Spectroscopic and waveguide properties of Nd3+-doped oxyfluorosilicate glasses

In this work, we present the fabrication of Nd3+-doped oxyfluorosilicate glasses with good spectroscopic properties and waveguiding characteristics. The amorphous nature and elemental mapping of the chemical composition for the studied glasses were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), respectively. Absorption, photoluminescence, and decay measurements have also been investigated. The Judd-Ofelt intensity parameters have been evaluated from the absorption spectrum to predict the radiative properties for the emission levels Nd3+ ions. The near-infrared (NIR) emission spectra recorded with 808nm laser diode excitation show the highest emission intensity for the (F3/2I11/2)-F-4-I-4 transition at 1.058m. In addition, planar waveguides were generated by either proton or carbon ion implantation in glasses with 1.0 and 1.5mol% Nd3+ concentration, showing good optical confinement from the waveguide mode distribution and transmission properties. The obtained results show that these glasses have potential features for the development of integrated devices, particularly the fabrication of lasers and amplifiers in a compact configuration.