Abstract
We performed a comparative spectroscopic analysis on three novel Tm3+:tellurite-based glasses with the following compositions Tm2O3:TeO2-ZnO (TeZnTm), Tm2O3:TeO2-Nb2O5 (TeNbTm), and Tm3+:TeO2-K2O-Nb2O5 (TeNbKTm), primarily for 2-μm laser applications. Tellurite glasses were prepared at different doping concentrations in order to investigate the effect of Tm3+ ion concentration as well as host composition on the stimulated emission cross sections and the luminescence quantum efficiencies. By performing Judd–Ofelt analysis, we determined the average radiative lifetimes of the 3H4 level to be 2.55 ± 0.07 ms, 2.76 ± 0.03 ms and 2.57 ± 0.20 ms for the TeZnTm, TeNbTm and TeNbKTm samples, respectively. We clearly observed the effect of the cross-relaxation, which becomes significant at higher Tm2O3 concentrations, leading to the quenching of 1460-nm emission and enhancement of 1860-nm emission. Furthermore, with increasing Tm2O3 concentrations, we observed a decrease in the fluorescence lifetimes as a result of the onset of non-radiative decay. For the 3H4 level, the highest obtained quantum efficiency was 32% for the samples with the lowest Tm2O3 ion concentration. For the 1860-nm emission band, the average emission cross section was determined to measure around 6.33 ± 0.34 × 10−21 cm2, revealing the potential of thulium-doped tellurite gain media for 2-μm laser applications in bulk and fiber configurations.
Highlights
Thulium-doped systems are drawing a great deal of interest for numerous laser applications in the near and mid-infrared regions of the spectrum, since they provide broad emission bands covering the empty region (1400–2700 nm) between neodymium and erbium systems
The analysis was conducted for the two emission bands with peaks at 1460 nm (3 F4 level) and 1860 nm
Two tellurite-based glass samples were prepared by using niobium oxide as a glass modifier: (x)Tm2 O3 -(95)TeO2 -(5-x)Nb2 O5, (TeNbTm) where x = 1.0 and 0.25 (1.0 and 0.25 mol %); four samples were prepared at different concentrations using zinc oxide as a glass modifier: (x)Tm2 O3 -(80)TeO2 -(20-x)ZnO
Summary
Thulium-doped systems are drawing a great deal of interest for numerous laser applications in the near and mid-infrared regions of the spectrum, since they provide broad emission bands covering the empty region (1400–2700 nm) between neodymium and erbium systems. In this respect, transitions originating from the 3 F4 (3 F4 →3 H4 and 3 F4 →3 H5 transitions corresponding to 1.5-μm and 2.5-μm emissions) and 3 H4 (3 H4 →3 H6 transition corresponding to 1.9-μm emissions) energy states are worth studying. The analysis was conducted for the two emission bands with peaks at 1460 nm (3 F4 level) and 1860 nm (3 H4 level), and Judd–Ofelt theory was used in the analysis of the experimental data
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