Yb3+ doped crystals in the glass
VAKULA N. 1, LU Z. 2,3, UDE M. 2, CABIÉ M. 4, NEISIUS T. 4, ORANGE F. 5, PIGEONNEAU F. 3, BLANC W. 2, PETIT L. 1
1 Photonics Laboratory, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland; 2 Université Côte d'Azur, Institut de Physique de Nice, Nice, France; 3 MINES Paris, PSL Research University, CEMEF - Centre for material forming, Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France; 4 Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, Centrale Marseille, Marseille, France; 5 Université Côte d'Azur, CCMA, Nice, France
The great interest in fiber optics has been growing since revolutionary discovery in the 1960s by Charles K. Kao. Phosphate glasses are more suitable than silica glass for engineering photonics needs due to their properties: easy processing, excellent thermo?mechanical and chemical properties, homogeneity, good thermal stability, and excellent optical properties, such as high transparency in the UV?Visible?Near?Infrared (UV?Vis?NIR). Also, phosphate glasses can incorporate high amount of dopant, allowing high RE ions solubility. Due to the listed properties, the interest in phosphate glasses has been increasing for such applications like optical communication, laser sources, optical amplifiers, optical parametric oscillators [1].
In recent years, scientists all over the world are trying to develop new generation of glass fibers containing crystals doped with rare-earth ions (RE). By embedding RE doped crystals into a glass matrix, the properties of the RE ions can be controlled independently of the glass composition. For example, silica fibers, prepared with Al2O3/Er nanoparticles (NPs) using an MCVD-compatible process, showed improved performances in terms of erbium homogeneity along the fiber length for standard doping levels [2]. Yb3+ ion is one of the most common RE element because of a favorable energy level structure for high power laser amplifiers due to the direct excitation of the 2F5/2 level which can be efficiently achieved with high power and efficiency InGaAs commercial [3]. Therefore, in recent years phosphate glasses doped Yb3+ ions have recently become appealing as they have high emission cross-section, broad absorption and emission bands and long fluorescence lifetime [4]. In this presentation, we will explain how to prepare different crystals doped Yb3+ ions and how to incorporate them in different glass matrices (silica and phosphate). The spectroscopic properties of different composites will be discussed to clearly demonstrate the perspectives of glass-based composite.
Acknowledgements: This work was supported by Academy of Finland [Flagship Programme, Photonics Research and Innovation PREIN-320165]. NV would like to thank the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Tampere University, for the Doctoral Grant.
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