Optical Limiting Response in Er3+-Doped TeO2-Nb2O5-ZnO Glass

The nonlinear absorption properties of Er3+ doped telluride glass were investigated with picosecond laser pulses. The optical limiting response was measured with a transmission technique and reverse saturable absorption (RSA) with a Z-scan technique, which proved that the glass was a promising material for practical optical limiters. The experimental resulted showed that the excited absorption was responsible for the measured RSA, resulting in the optical limiting response. The measured data could be well simulated with a rate equation model to obtain the absorption cross sections of the excited state.