Investigation of thermal stability and spectroscopic properties in Er3+ doped bismuth-boron-germanium glasses

A series of Er3+ -doped 50Bi(2)O(3)-(50-x)B2O3-xGeO(2) + 0.5 wt% Er2O3 (x = 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 mol %) glasses were prepared. The thermal stability, absorption spectra, emission spectra and lifetime of the I-4(13/2) level of Er3+ ions were measured and studied. It is found that the absorption cross-section of Er3+, emission intensity and lifetime of the I-4(13/2) level of Er3+ increase with increasing GeO2 content in the glass composition, while the fluorescence full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) at 1.5 mu m of Er3+ is about 79 nm in x = 20 mol % glass sample under 970 nm pump. The obtained data suggest that this system glass can be used as a candidate host material for potential broadband optical amplifiers. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.