Er3+ ions doped tellurite glasses with high thermal stability, elasticity, absorption intensity, emission cross section and their optical application

Three samples of tellurite glasses within system 46TeO2⋅15ZnO⋅9.0P2O5⋅30LiNbO3 doped with xEr2O3 ions (where x = 4000, 8000 and 10,000 ppm) have been prepared by using the conventional melt-quenching method. These glasses have high thermal stability proved by using differential thermal analysis (DTA) measurements. Elastic properties of the glasses were investigated by measuring both longitudinal and shear velocities using the pulse-echo overlap technique at 5 MHz. Elastic moduli such as: longitudinal (λ), shear (μ), Bulk (B) and Young’s (Y) increased with the Er3+ concentration in the prepared glasses matrix. The optical properties of the glasses were estimated by measuring UV–vis-NIR spectroscopy. The Judd–Ofelt parameters, Ωt (t = 2, 4, 6) of Er3+ were evaluated from optical absorption spectra. The oscillator strength type transition probabilities, spectroscopic quality factors, branching ratio and radiative lifetimes of several excited states of Er3+ have been predicted using intensity Judd–Ofelt parameters. Gain cross-section for the Er3+ laser transition 4I13/2 → 4I15/2 was obtained. The results show 46TeO2⋅15ZnO⋅9.0P2O5⋅30LiNbO3⋅10,000 ppm Er2O3 glass has the effective emission cross section bandwidth (64 nm) and large stimulated emission cross-section (0.89 × 10−20 cm2). The thermal stability, elastic and spectroscopic properties indicate that this glass doped with Er3+ is a promising candidate for optical applications and may be suitable for optical fiber lasers and amplifiers.

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► Present glasses have high thermal stability.
► The glass sample C has the effective emission cross section bandwidth (64 nm). It has large stimulated emission cross-section (0.89 × 10−20 cm2).
► The optical gain coefficient to the population inversion of the 4I13/24I13/2 level is 8.87 cm−1.