Optical properties and infrared-to-visible upconversion in Er3+-doped GeO2-Bi2O3 and GeO2-PbO-Bi2O3 glasses

Luminescence properties and upconversion studies of germanate glasses in ternary GeO2-PbO-Bi2O3 and binary GeO2-Bi2O3 Systems containing Er2O3 (0.1-1.0 wt%) are presented for the first time. The Judd-Ofelt parameters found for these glasses are: Omega(2) = 4.50 x 10(-20) cm(2), Omega(4) = 1.55 x 10(-20) cm(2) and Omega(6) = 0.69 x 10(-20) cm(2) for binary glasses and Omega(2) = 4.44 x 10(-20) cm(2), Omega(4) = 1.82 x 10(-20) cm(2) and Omega(6) = 0.39 x 10(-20) cm(2) for ternary glasses. The refractive index of these glasses is found to be similar to 2. The transition I-4(13/2)-> I-4(15/2) is peaked at similar to 1.53 mu m and shows a radiative lifetime around 5 ms. Both systems exhibit similar emission cross-section at 1.53 mu m around 0.8 x 10(-20) cm(2). Upconverted green emission at similar to 530 nm (H-2(1) (1/2)-> I-4(15/2)) and -550 nm (S-4(3/2)-> I-4(15/2)) and red emission at similar to 668 nm (F-4(9/2)-> I-4(15/2)) are observed under 980 nm cw excitation. Our results suggest that these glasses are promising candidates for applications in photonics. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.