Effect of SiO2 content on the thermal stability and spectroscopic properties of Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped tellurite borate glasses

Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped (85-x)TeO2-15B2O3-xSiO2 (TBS x=0, 5, 10, 15, 20 mol%) glasses had been prepared. Effect of SiO2 content on the thermal stability and spectroscopic properties of Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped tellurite borate glasses have been investigated. With SiO2 content increasing from 0 to 20 mol%, the Tg and Tx, the fluorescence full width at half maximum (FWHM), the peak of stimulated emission cross-section (σpeak), the measured lifetime (τm) and quantum efficiency (η) change from 398∘C, 530∘C, 75 nm, 5.7×10-21cm2, 1.84 ms, 56.4% to 419∘C, 593∘C, 71 nm, 7.5×10-21cm2, 2.38 ms, 70.6%, respectively. The results indicate that for Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped tellurite borate glasses, introducing a suitable amount of SiO2 content is helpful for the improvement of thermal stability and the incremental of the lifetime of I13/24 level and quantum efficiency of Er3+:I13/24→I15/24 transition, while keeping the FWHM relatively large.