Controllable structural tailoring for enhanced ∼2 µm emission in heavily Tm<sup>3+</sup>-doped germanate glasses
Le Tu, Guowu Tang, Qi Qian, Zhongmin Yang
Abstract
Heavily <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">T</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> -doped glass fibers are urgently desired for <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace width="thickmathspace"/> <mml:mtext>µ</mml:mtext> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> single-frequency fiber lasers and high-repetition-rate mode-locked fiber lasers. Here the structure of glass networks was tuned through controlling the numbers of non-bridging oxygens and bridging oxygens by adjusting the composition of the glasses, hence increasing the <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">T</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> doping concentration of germanate glasses. The increased flexibility of the glass networks favors the distribution of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">T</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ions to decrease fluorescence quenching, which was confirmed by the experimental and theoretical results. A heavily <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">T</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>9.8</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mo>×</mml:mo> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>20</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace width="thickmathspace"/> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">i</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">o</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">n</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">s</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">c</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> )-doped germanate glass was successfully fabricated without quenching by tuning the components of the glass. To the best of our knowledge, the <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">T</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ion doping concentration is the highest reported level in <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">T</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> -doped glasses and fibers. The results suggest that the heavily <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">T</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> -doped germanate glass is highly promising for fabricating <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> <mml:mspace width="thickmathspace"/> <mml:mtext>µ</mml:mtext> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> glass fibers with high gain per unit length.