Glass forming ability and enhanced 2.7 μm emission of erbium ions in TeO2 doped fluoroaluminate glass

•A kind of new fluoroaluminate–tellurite glass is prepared.•The glass-forming ability of fluoroaluminate is improved a lot by adding TeO2.•The crystallization activation energy of fluoroaluminate–tellurite is studied.•The XRD of fluoroaluminate–tellurite is investigated.•The change of 2.7 μm emission caused by TeO2 has been investigated.

New fluoroaluminate–tellurite glasses were fabricated by introducing TeO2 into the fluoroaluminate glass. The glass-forming ability and crystallization kinetic parameter kD(T) of the fluoroaluminate–tellurite glass system as a function of the TeO2 concentrations were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Also, the crystalline phases were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD). X-ray diffraction showed that the sample without TeO2 composition had some crystallization phases when the glass was reheated. However, the addition of TeO2 changed the crystallization ability and improved the glass forming ability of the fluoroaluminate glass. Besides, 2.7 μm emission properties were investigated through the measured emission spectra. Enhanced 2.7 μm emission was observed in the fluoroaluminate–tellurite glass under 980 nm excitation and the calculated emission cross section (σe) was larger than some reported values. This kind of fluoroaluminate–tellurite glass with excellent glass-forming ability and emission properties could be used as host material for optical fiber and 2.7 μm lasers.

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