Near-infrared up-conversion emission from erbium ions doped amorphous tellurite media: Judd-Ofelt evaluation

Highlights: • Erbium doped ZnO-MgO-TeO₂ glasses are prepared by melt quenching method. • The spectroscopic properties of the proposed glasses are determined. • J-O intensity parameters and radiative parameters are evaluated. • Effect of Er₂O₃ content on the ⁴I_13/2 → ⁴I_15/2 transition is quantified. Efficient up-converted lasing materials are required for high performing, durable and low cost photonic devices. Rare earth ions doped glass systems with modified optical properties may meet this need. In this view, erbium (Er³⁺) ions doped zinc-magnesium-tellurite glass system of composition (75-x)TeO₂–15ZnO–10MgO–xEr₂O₃ (0.5 ≤ x ≤ 2.0 mol%) was prepared via melt-quenching method. Optical behavior of such glasses was determined as a function of changing Er₂O₃ content to examine the feasibility of achieving up-converted lasing media. Judd-Ofelt (J-O) intensity (Ω₂, Ω₄, Ω₆) and radiative parameters were evaluated. Glass hardness was increased linearly with increasing Er³⁺ ions concentration. The emission spectra revealed three peaks around 470 nm, 500 nm and 550 nm. Effect of Er₂O₃ content on the ⁴I_13/2 → ⁴I_15/2 transition was quantified in terms of fluorescence intensity and lifetime. The width of the near-infrared fluorescence band (1.53 μm) was broadened from 58.77 to 60.01 nm with the increase of Er₂O₃ content from 0.5 to 2.0 mol%. The proposed glass compositions were demonstrated to be potential for solid-state lasers, near infrared sensors, and other optical devices.