Intense visible upconversion and energy transfer in Ho3+/Yb3+ codoped tellurite glasses for potential fiber laser

Abstract

New Ho3+/Yb3+ codoped tellurite glasses (TeO2–Bi2O3–ZnO–Na2O) prepared by melt-quenching technique were investigated to realize visible-band upconversion emissions applied for compact fiber lasers. The absorption spectra, upconversion emission spectra, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) curves, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectra were measured to characterize the spectroscopic properties of Ho3+, thermal stability and structural nature of glass hosts. Under the excitation of 980nm laser diode (LD), the intense green (∼543nm) and red (∼657nm) upconversion emissions corresponding to 5F4(5S2)→5I8 and 5F5→5I8 transitions of Ho3+ respectively are simultaneously observed. The power dependence study of upconversion intensities on excited pump power revealed that the Ho3+ population at 5F4(5S2) and 5F5 levels was originated from two-photon absorption process based on the energy transfer from Yb3+ to Ho3+. The energy transfer mechanism from Yb3+ to Ho3+ was investigated and relevant micro-parameters (energy transfer coefficient and critical radius) and phonon contribution ratio were presented. With the increase of Yb3+ doped concentration, both the green and red upconversion intensities enhanced greatly, meanwhile the thermal stability of glass hosts, characterized by the three characteristic temperatures, also got a slight improvement. Furthermore, the glass structure was briefly analyzed with the calculated Judd–Ofelt intensity parameters, the measured Raman spectra and XRD curves. The present results indicate that the new synthesized Ho3+/Yb3+ codoped tellurite glass with intense green and red upconversion emissions is a promising medium applied for the visible-band fiber lasers.