Tm³⁺-doped glasses have two emission bands that peak around 1470 nm and 1800 nm in the near infrared, making them potentially important in the development of fiber-optic amplifiers and fiber lasers. The relative strength and the quantum efficiency of these bands depend on the glass composition as well as the active ion concentration. In this study, we have investigated the variation of the luminescence strengths as a function of glass composition and Tm³⁺ ion concentration in a new type of Tm³⁺-doped tellurite glass. In the experiments, two sets of samples with the host composition (1-x)TeO₂-(x)PbF₂ were prepared. In the first set, the active ion concentration was constant (1 mol. % Tm³⁺) and x=10, 15, 17, 20, 22 and 25 mol. %. The second set had samples with x=10 mol. % and the active ion concentration varied from 0.2 to 1 mol. %. In the experiments, absorption measurements were first made to determine the spontaneous emission probabilities of the 4f-4f transitions of the Tm³⁺ ions. The calculations were made by using the Judd-Ofelt theory. The samples were then excited with a 785-nm diode to measure the relative emission strengths of the 1470-nm and 1800-nm bands. Our results show that as the Tm³⁺ ion concentration increases from 0.2 mol. % to 1 mol. %, the ratio of the 1470-nm intensity decreases from 0.98 to 0.18 relative to that of the 1800-nm band.

Date Published: 1 September 2004
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 5460, Solid State Lasers and Amplifiers, (1 September 2004); doi: 10.1117/12.545996

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5460:
Solid State Lasers and Amplifiers
Alphan Sennaroglu; James G. Fujimoto; Clifford R. Pollock, Editor(s)