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Sol-gel synthesis of rare-earth-doped fluoride glass thin films

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

John Ballato
Affiliation:
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Fiber Optic Materials Research Program, Piscataway, New Jersey 08855–0909
Matthew Dejneka
Affiliation:
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Fiber Optic Materials Research Program, Piscataway, New Jersey 08855–0909
Richard E. Riman
Affiliation:
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Fiber Optic Materials Research Program, Piscataway, New Jersey 08855–0909
Elias Snitzer
Affiliation:
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Fiber Optic Materials Research Program, Piscataway, New Jersey 08855–0909
Weimin Zhou
Affiliation:
U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Physical Sciences Directorate, Photonics Branch, AMSRL-PS-P Fort Monmouth, New Jersey 07703–5601
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Abstract

This paper describes ZBLA fluoride glass thin films produced via an inexpensive, low-temperature reactive atmosphere sol-gel approach. Luminescence from erbium at 1.55 μm has been observed in x-ray-amorphous doped films deposited on calcium fluoride, polyimide, sapphire, and silicon substrates. Fluorescence studies of the erbium 4S3/24I13/2 transition, a characteristic emission for a reduced phonon energy host, were conducted for both sol-gel-derived films and conventionally prepared glass rods. The peak intensity observed from the sol-gel films was blue-shifted by 16 nm with a FWHM value approximately half that measured for the melt-quenched rods. Excitation studies indicate that, unlike conventionally prepared glasses, sol-gel materials suffer from nonradiative relaxation of the 4S3/2 excited state to the 4I9/2 level, where subsequent radiative emission to the 4I15/2 ground state occurs. The proposed source of the quenching mechanism are remnant species inherent to the sol-gel process. While this causes the luminescence behavior of rare-earth-doped sol-gel-derived fluoride materials to be similar to oxide hosts, these remnant species modify the branching ratios, resultantly leading to a novel 824 nm emission when excited at 488 nm.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1996

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