Er3+ doped Ag2O containing glass fibers
SHESTOPALOVA I. 1, KORRI J. 1, LEMIERE A. 1, NÄRHI M. 1, GUMENYUK R. 1,2, BOUSSARD-PLÉDEL C. 3, TROLES J. 3, PETIT L. 1
1 Photonics Laboratory, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland; 2 Tampere Institute for Advanced Study, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland; 3 Univ Rennes, Rennes, France
The fabrication of rare-earth (RE) doped glasses has attracted lots of interests, especially Er3+-doped glasses due to their various emissions in the visible, NIR an MIR ranges under 980 nm pumping. Silica glass has proven to be very attractive because of its wide wavelength range with good optical transparency and high mechanical strength. However, RE tend to cluster in silica glasses. Therefore, phosphate and tellurite glasses, for example have been of great interest as they are good host materials due to their ability to incorporate high amount of RE.
It is well known that the spectroscopic properties of RE doped glasses can be enhanced using metal nanoparticles (NPs) due to their optical responses that are governed mainly by the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) [1]. Significant enhancement in the spectroscopic properties of Er3+ doped tellurite glass due to silver NPs was reported in [2] and was related to the strong local electric field induced by SPR of Ag NPs and also by energy transfer from the surface of silver NPs to Er3+ ions.
Here, we will present our work on the development of new Er3+ doped Ag2O containing glasses. We explain how these materials are prepared and characterized in order to understand the impact of the glass composition on the formation of Ag nanoparticles using thermal treatment. The impact of the addition of Ag2O on the physical, thermal, optical, structural and luminescence properties of the glasses is investigated. We will demonstrate that Ag2O can be used to increase the thermal properties of the Er3+ doped glass allowing the drawing of this glass into fiber. Despite the formation of Ag nanoparticles at the surface of the fiber although the drawing is a fast process, we will show that light is still confined in the fiber.
References
[1] M. A. P. Silva, Y. Messaddeq, V. Briois, M. Poulain, F. Villain, S.J.L. Ribeiro, “Synthesis and structural investigations on TeO2-PbF2-CdF2 glasses and transparent glass-ceramics” Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids 63.4 (2002) 605–612.
[2] H. Fares, H. Elhouichet, B. Gelloz, M. Férid, “Silver nanoparticles enhanced luminescence properties of Er3+ doped tellurite glasses: Effect of heat treatment” J. Appl. Phys. 116 (2014) 123504:1–123504:10.