Abstract
Energy transfer mechanisms between Er3+ and Pr3+ in Er3+/Pr3+ codoped germinate glass are investigated in detail. Under 980 nm LD pumping, 2.7 μm fluorescence intensity enhanced greatly. Meanwhile, 1.5 μm lifetime and fluorescence were suppressed deeply due to the efficient energy transfer from Er3+:4I13/2 to Pr3+:3F3,4, which depopulates the 4I13/2 level and promotes the 2.7 μm transition effectively. The obvious change in J-O parameters indicates that Pr3+ influences the local environment of Er3+ significantly. The increased spontaneous radiative probability in Er3+/Pr3+ glass is further evidence for enhanced 4I11/2 → 4I13/2 transition. The Er3+:4I11/2→Pr3+:1G4 process is harmful to the population accumulation on 4I11/2 level, which inhibits the 2.7 μm emission. The microscopic energy transfer coefficient of Er3+:4I13/2→Pr3+:3F3,4 is 42.25 × 10−40 cm6/s, which is 11.5 times larger than that of Er3+:4I11/2→Pr3+:1G4. Both processes prefer to be non-phonon assisted, which is the main reason why Pr3+ is so efficient in Er3+:2.7 μm emission.
Highlights
Mid-infrared laser, especially ~3 μm laser, has extensive potential application, such as remote sensing and laser microsurgery
In order to understand the sensitizing mechanisms of Pr3+ to Er3+ further, in this work, we studied the energy transfer (ET) dynamics as well as the macroscopic ET parameters in a Pr3+/Er3+ codoped germanate glass
The power of 980 nm laser diode (LD), the width of the slit to collect signals and the position of the samples were fixed to the same condition in the experiment setup in order to accurately compare the intensity of 2.7 μm emission
Summary
Mid-infrared laser, especially ~3 μm laser, has extensive potential application, such as remote sensing and laser microsurgery. Er3+/Pr3+ codoped tunable CW laser has been obtained in the ZBLAN fiber [9,10]. Researchers have done a lot of work in developing new mid-IR glass to overcome the shortcomings of fluoride glasses. Among the remains of choices, germinate glass does have proper phonon energy and higher glass transition temperature for resisting laser damage. The Er3+/Pr3+ codoped germanate glass can have preferable spectroscopic properties as a candidate for 2.7 μm fiber laser material. In order to understand the sensitizing mechanisms of Pr3+ to Er3+ further, in this work, we studied the energy transfer (ET) dynamics as well as the macroscopic ET parameters in a Pr3+/Er3+ codoped germanate glass. The energy transfer mechanism in Er3+/Pr3+ codoped glass is focused to demonstrate the sensitizing effect of Pr3+
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