Spectroscopic study of high Er and Er/Yb concentration doped photosensitive silicate glasses for integrated optics application

•High concentration doping of Er and Er/Yb doped photosensitive glass was studied.•Absorption cross-section, fluorescence lifetime and energy quenching were studied.•The solubility to rare earth ions of this glass was much higher.•1.5 μm emission line broadening of Er3 + ion emission was observed.•The studied multifunctional glass is good for integrated optics application.

Er and Er/Yb doped photosensitive multicomponent silicate glasses with composition of 60SiO2–10GeO2–10B2O3–20Na2O (in wt.%) were prepared and characterized in terms of absorption cross-section (σa), fluorescence lifetime (τm) and concentration quenching effect. The solubility of rare earth ions in this glass is much higher (to 2 wt.%) than that of conventional silicate glasses, with corresponding lifetime and quantum efficiency of τm = 7.5 ms and η = 50%, respectively. Glasses with different Er/Yb ratios were also made to investigate the effects of Er/Yb ratios on energy transfer efficiency. A ratio of Er/Yb = 0.4 showed higher absorption cross-section compared to 0.2 and 0.6. The lifetime for all samples decreased with the addition of Yb2O3. We also report on the 1.5 μm emission line broadening of Er3 + ion emission in these glasses. The emission of full width at half maximum shifted from 25.7 nm to 48.2 nm and the increased line width was found to correlate to an increase in Er3 + concentration in such a multicomponent glass. The studied glass with multifunctional properties is proved to be a very good candidate for application in integrated optics.