Enhancing of 4F3/2 → 4I9/2 transition of Nd3+ doped BaO-Ga2O3– Al2O3–B2O3 glasses for near-infrared laser applications

Abstract

Neodymium, Barium Gallium Aluminium Borate glasses having the composition of [35% B2O3 + 35% BaO + 15% Ga2O3 + (15-x)% Al2O3 + x% Nd2O3, (x = 0, 0.5, 1 and 2%)] were prepared using traditional melt quenching method. Physical properties such as refractive index (n), molar volume (VM), density (ρ), band-gap (Eg), and Urbach energy (ΔE) were measured and calculated. The results revealed that our glass has allowed indirect band-gap transitions and the addition of Nd3+ reduced the Eg energies from 3.24 to 3.01 eV. The Judd-Ofelt parameters were obtained using the least-square technique and they were used to compute the total radiative probability (At), radiative lifetime (τr), fluorescence branching ratio (Br), and quantum efficiency (η) for the meta-stable level 4F3/2. The glass system showed a high Spectroscopic factor (χ) ranging from 1.61 to 1.98. The Br showed that the 4F3/2 → 4I9/2 transition (883 nm) was enhanced at the expense of the 4F3/2 → 4I11/2 transition (1064 nm) and (4F3/2 → 4I13/2) transition (1342 nm). A relatively high quantum efficiency (η = 0.78) was noticed for our glass. Generally the spectroscopic properties and gain factor (γ) showed that the present glass system is a promising candidate for near-infrared laser applications (883 nm).