Rare earth doped lead-free germanate glasses for modern photonics

Abstract

Lead-free germanate glasses doped with rare earth ions were synthesized and next studied using excitation and luminescence spectroscopy. Rare earths were limited to Pr³⁺, Eu³⁺ and Er³⁺ ions. Several luminescence bands correspond to transitions originating from the ³P₀ and ¹D₂ states of Pr³⁺, the ⁵D₀ state of Eu³⁺, the ⁴S_3/2, ⁴F_9/2 and ⁴I_13/2 states of ^Er3+, respectively. The relatively long lifetime for the upper ⁴I_13/2 laser state of Er³⁺ suggest that lead-free germanate glasses are promising materials for near-infrared optical amplifiers.

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