2.7 μm Emission properties of Er3+ doped fluorozirconate glass

Fluorozirconate glass, considered as the most stable heavy metal fluoride glass and excellent host for rare earth ions, has been extensively used for 2.7 mu m laser materials due to its low intrinsic loss, wide transparency window, and small phonon energy. In this paper, a novel erbium ion doped fluorozirconate glass was prepared, 2.7 mu m emission properties, thermal stability and Raman spectra were investigated and the spontaneous transition probability and branching ratio were calculated and analyzed. It was found that the thermal stability was greatly improved due to the Delta T increased from 59 to 89A degrees C after introducing YF3 on the basis of ZBLA(ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3-AlF3). In addition, intensive 2.7 mu m emission was observed and the present sample with the addition of Y3+ possessed larger 2.7 mu m emission cross section (1.12 x 10(-20) cm(2)) which indicated that this kind of fluoride glasses could potentially be used as an efficient gain media in the 2.7 mu m fiber laser system.