Influence of the P2O5/Al2O3 co-doping on the local environment of erbium ions and on the 1.5μm quantum efficiency of Er3+-borosilicate glasses

• Published in: Optical materials Vol. 36; no. 5; pp. 926 - 931
• Main Authors: Bourhis, Kevin, Boetti, Nadia G., Koponen, Joona, Milanese, Daniel, Petit, Laetica
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier B.V 01.03.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Aluminum oxide; Bonding; Cations; Er doped borosilicate glasses; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Judd–Ofelt parameters; Lifetime; Ligands; Luminescence; Luminescence quantum efficiency; Mathematical analysis; Optical materials; Optics; Physics; Quantum efficiency; Silicon dioxide; Lifetime; Luminescence quantum efficiency; Judd–Ofelt parameters; Er doped borosilicate glasses; Luminescence; Doped materials; Erbium ions; Quantum yield; Silica; Borosilicate glass; Aluminium Oxides; Rare earths; Judd―Ofelt parameters; Optical materials; Erbium additions
• ISSN: 0925-3467; 1873-1252
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optmat.2013.12.035

The changes in the Er3+ luminescence properties induced by the introduction of P2O5 and/or Al2O3 in borosilicate glasses with different SiO2 concentrations are discussed in this paper. The Judd–Ofelt theory was used to estimate the radiative and non-radiative rate of the transitions by calculating the so-called J–O fitting parameters Ω2, Ω4 and Ω6 from the absorption spectra. In this paper, we explained that the quantum efficiency of the glasses with 60mol% of SiO2 is higher than that of the glasses with 50mol% of SiO2. The formation of [AlPO4]-like units in the silica network leads to a slight reduction of the quantum efficiency. η is much higher for the P-rich glasses than for the Al-rich glass indicating that the P-rich glasses are the most promising materials for amplification application in silica-rich glasses. [Display omitted] •The goal of this study was to investigate the changes in the Er3+ luminescence properties in glasses.•The glasses are borosilicate glasses with different SiO2, P2O5 and/or Al2O3 concentrations.•The changes in the Ω2 and Ω6 parameters have been attributed to variations in the glass structure.•The highest radiative lifetimes were obtained for the glasses with a high P2O5 content.•The performances were considerably degraded for the glasses with a high Al2O3 content. In this paper, the absorption properties of Er3+-doped borosilicate glasses with various P2O5 and Al2O3 content are measured for different silica concentrations. The Judd–Ofelt parameters (Ω2, Ω4 and Ω6) have been calculated in order to investigate the local environment of the rare-earth cations. The compositional changes of Ω2 and Ω6 are attributed to changes in the bonding between Er3+ and surrounding ligand groups due to structural modifications occurring with the introduction of P2O5 and Al2O3. The luminescence quantum efficiency of the 4I13/2→4I15/2 transition slightly increases with the addition of P2O5 whereas it decreases with the progressive replacement of P2O5 by Al2O3. We noticed that it also increases when the silica content is higher.