McCumber analysis of Er3+ doped Al-Ba-Li phosphate glasses for optical amplifier material

Abstract

Er3+-doped Al-Ba-Li phosphate glasses were produced using a melt-quenching method. In the current study, the effect of doping Er3+ ion concentration for photoluminescence efficiency and developing compact optical amplifiers operating at 1.53 μm was investigated. The optical absorption study reveals that ten absorption peaks, showing highest intensity at 522 nm and 980 nm in UV-Vis and NIR regions, respectively. Mc-Cumber theory was used to conduct and analyse the optical absorption measurements obtained. The maximum intensity was observed at 4I13/2→4I15/2 transition in the wavelength range of 1400–1700 nm, which is monitored using 980 nm. The highest emission intensity was observed for 1.5 mol% of Er3+ ions doped glass in the NIR emission spectra. The McCumber theory was applied to evaluate the emission cross-sections; for 1.5 mol% of Er3+ ions, the emission cross-section and gain bandwidth value show 9.02 10−21 cm2 and 1.16 1025 cm3 respectively. When the concentration of Er3+ ions increased from 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mol%, respectively, the lifetime () of the 4I13/2 level reduced from 1.45, 1.19, 0.93, 0.72, and 0.63 ms. The population inversion values show larger than 0.4, suggesting their potential suitability in broadband amplifiers used in C-band communication for a typical population inversion of more than 40%. Phosphate glass doped with Er3+ ions at a concentration of 1.5 mol% doped glass being potential candidate for solid-state optical amplifying devices.