Green and Red Er3+ Photoluminescence Behavior in Various Fluoride Glasses

Abstract

Two pure fluoride and three fluoride phosphate glasses with known properties and global structure have been doped with Er3+ (4f11) in a concentration range between 1019 and 1021 Er3+ cm−3. A typical fluorozirconate (ZBLAN) and a typical fluoroaluminate glass (FP00) were compared. The effect of P2O5 addition in fluoroaluminate glasses was investigated with varying phosphate content between 0 and 20 mol% (FPx). Important physical properties were determined to characterize the glass samples. The static and dynamic luminescence behavior of the green (4S3/2→4I15/2) and red (4F9/2→4I15/2) emission have been studied by ultraviolet and visible excitation. The pure fluoroaluminate and fluorozirconate glass samples provide very high green luminescence emission intensity and long lifetime (about 600 μs) due to surrounding fluorine ligands. It is known that adding phosphate to the fluoroaluminate glass increases the glass‐forming ability but it decreases the luminescence intensity and lifetime drastically due to more oxygen ligands and higher electron–phonon coupling. The red emission has much lower intensity. Strong luminescence quenching could be found for all types of glass samples with an increasing Er3+ concentration. The glass samples investigated are very useful for applications as special photonic equipments.