Er3+-doped barium sodium borate glasses development for 1.54 µm broadband amplifier and optical laser

Abstract

Er3+-doped BaNaB glasses with 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 mol% of Er3+ were prepared by melt-quenching technique for study their luminescence properties in NIR and visible regions. The absorption spectra showed the absorption bands at 381, 406, 451, 488, 522, 545, 653, 804, 977 and 1532 nm in UV-Vis-NIR region. The NIR emission spectra, excited with 977 nm, show the broad band centered at 1540 nm in the range of 1460–1625 nm covers the S, C and L bands that have low transmission loss region in fiber-optic communication. The glass sample with 3.0 mol% of Er3+ provides the highest intensity of NIR emission. From the Judd-Ofelt analysis and McCumber theory, the glass sample with 4.0 mol% of Er3+ show the best performance for use as a broadband amplifier with the high gain bandwidth at 633.64 × 10−28 cm3 and the high emission cross section at 7.51 × 10−21 cm2. For the emission in visible region, when excited with 349 nm, the glass sample with 3.0 mol% of Er3+ provides the most intense emission in yellow-green region, when excited with 402 nm, the glass sample with 4.0 mol% of Er3+ provides the most intense emission in green region. The results from the McCumber theory and gain efficiency show good agreement of the glass sample with 4.0 mol% of Er3+ for use as broadband amplifier in C and L communication windows when the population inversion is more than 50%.