Optical absorption and emission properties of Nd3+-doped oxyfluorosilicate glasses for solid state lasers

• The Nd3+ doped oxyfluorosilicate glass exhibited a strong emission band at 1.06 μm.
• The structural information was carried out by Raman spectra.
• Judd–Ofelt analysis and decay measurements were carried out.
• The larger σemi (4.3 × 10−20 cm2) is good to a low threshold and a high gain lasers.

Optical absorption and near-infrared luminescent properties of Nd3+ ions doped oxyfluorosilicate (NKZLSNd) glasses were investigated. Raman spectrum was recorded to investigate the structural properties of NKZLSNd glasses. The Judd–Ofelt theory (JO) has been applied to the absorption spectrum of 1.0 mol% Nd3+-doped oxyfluorosilicate glass to derive the JO intensity parameters (Ωλ), which are in turn used to calculate the radiative properties of Nd3+ ions luminescent levels. The near-infrared emission spectra recorded with 808 nm laser diode excitation revealed the effective bandwidths values around 30–40 nm for the 4F3/2 level of Nd3+-doped oxyfluorosilicate glasses. The measured decay times of 4F3/2 level decreased with increasing Nd3+ ions concentration due to the concentration quenching.