Investigation of the aluminum oxide content on structural and optical properties of germanium glasses doped with RE ions

In this paper structural and optical properties of Rare Earth doped (RE) gallo-germanate glasses modified with various amount of Al2O3 have been investigated. Glasses doped with Yb3+, Tm3+. and Ho3+ ions were synthesized to study Al2O3 additive influence on their structural and emission properties in the visible spectral region. MIR spectra indicated that the structure of prepared glasses tends to order and its polymerization along with the aluminum content increase. Glass samples consisting of the low molar content of Al2O3 are characterized by a significant contribution of Tm3+ ions in light emission while Ho3+ ions luminescence dominates in samples consisting of the higher molar content of Al2O3. Additionally, investigation of light emission in visible range showed that samples consisting of the low molar content of Al2O3 are characterized by greenish blue light emission whereas light emitted by samples consisting of 15-20 mol% is much closer to the white colour. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.