title: Effect of Ga2O3 on the spectroscopic properties of erbium-doped boro-bismuth glasses.
abstract: The spectroscopic properties and thermal stability of Er3+-doped Bi2O3-B2O3-Ga2O3 glasses are investigated experimentally. The effect of Ga2O3 content on absorption spectra, the Judd-Ofelt parameters Omega t (t=2, 4, 6), fluorescence spectra and the lifetimes of Er3+:4I 13/2 level are also investigated, and the stimulated emission cross-section is calculated from McCumber theory. With the increasing of Ga2O3 content in the glass composition, the Omega t (t=2, 4, 6) parameters, fluorescence full width at half maximum (FWHM) and the 4I 13/2 lifetimes of Er3+ first increase, reach its maximum at Ga2O3=8 mol.%, and then decrease. The results show that Er3+-doped 50Bi2O3-42B2O3-8Ga2O3 glass has the broadest FWHM (81nm) and large stimulated emission cross-section (1.03 x1 0(-20)cm2) in these glass samples. Compared with other glass hosts, the gain bandwidth properties of Er+3-doped Bi2O3-B2O3-Ga2O3 glass is better than tellurite, silicate, phosphate and germante glasses. In addition, the lifetime of 4I 13/2 level of Er(3+) in bismuth-based glass, compared with those in other glasses, is relative low due to the high-phonon energy of the B-O bond, the large refractive index of the host and the existence of OH* in the glass. At the same time, the glass thermal stability is improved in which the substitution of Ga2O3 for B2O3 strengthens the network structure. The suitability of bismuth-based glass as a host for a Er3+-doped broadband amplifier and its advantages over other glass hosts are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Information Science and Engineering, The State Key Laboratory Base of Novel Functional Materials and Preparation Science, Ningbo University, Zhejiang, PR China. vividke@sohu.com
authors.forename: Zhou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ling
authors.forename: Zhou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ya-Xun
authors.forename: Dai
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shi-Xun
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tie-Feng
authors.forename: Nie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Qiu-Hua
authors.forename: Shen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xiang
mesh_terms: D001729:Bismuth / Q000737:chemistry*; D001895:Boron / Q000737:chemistry*; D004871:Erbium / Q000737:chemistry*; D005453:Fluorescence; D005708:Gallium / Q000737:chemistry*; D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry*; D008280:Magnetics; D012031:Refractometry; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D013696:Temperature; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: C038863:gallium oxide; D004871:Erbium; D005708:Gallium; D001895:Boron; D001729:Bismuth