Photodarkening mechanisms of Pr <sup>3+</sup> singly doped and Pr <sup>3+</sup> /Ce <sup>3+</sup> co‐doped silicate glasses and fibers
Yan Sun, Ju‐Ping Ma, Chongyun Shao, Xin Wang, Fei Yu, Meisong Liao, Lili Hu, J. C. Knight
Abstract
Abstract In this work, we revealed the possible mechanisms of the photodarkening in Pr 3+ ions singly doped and Pr 3+ /Ce 3+ co‐doped silicate glasses and fibers induced by X‐ray and 488‐nm laser radiations and studied the role of Ce 3+ in increasing radiation resistance in Pr 3+ ‐doped silicate glasses and fibers. The absorption, emission, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), radiation induced attenuation spectra, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of Pr 3+ singly doped and Pr 3+ /Ce 3+ co‐doped silicate glasses before and after X‐ray radiation were measured and analyzed. The fluorescence intensity and photoinduced attenuation of Pr 3+ singly doped and Pr 3+ /Ce 3+ co‐doped silicate fibers at visible wavelengths pumped by 488‐nm laser were measured and analyzed. The influence of Ce 3+ ions co‐doping on the spectroscopic properties of Pr 3+ ions as well as the radiation‐induced defects in silicate glasses was studied. Results demonstrate that both X‐ray and 488‐nm laser radiations will induce photodamage in Pr 3+ ions‐doped silicate glasses and fibers. Co‐doping Ce 3+ (by up to 1 mol%) is efficient to suppress the darkening induced by both X‐ray and 488‐nm laser radiations without influence on the luminescence behavior of Pr 3+ ions in silicate glasses and fibers. Our studies demonstrate the promising potential of Pr 3+ /Ce 3+ co‐doped silicate glasses for visible lasing applications.