Characterization of Tm3+ doped TNZL glass laser material

In this paper, a new tellurite glass (85TeO(2)center dot 5.0Nb(2)O(5)center dot 5.0ZnO center dot 5.0LiF) doped with 1 mol% Tm2O3 was prepared by melt-quenching technique. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements indicate a good thermal stability, X-ray diffraction patterns show no sign of crystallization. Precise refractive index measurements were performed on five different wavelengths by a prism spectrometer. The optical energy gap, the Sellmeier energy gap and the dispersion energy were estimated. Judd-Ofelt intensity parameters were evaluated in order to obtain electric and magnetic-dipole transition probabilities, branching ratios and radiative lifetimes of several excited states of Tm3+. The classical McCumber theory was used to evaluate the emission cross-sections for the F-3(4)-> H-3(6) transition at a wavelength of around 1.8 gm. The characteristics of down-conversion luminescence in the visible range were studied by exciting Tm3+ ions into the (1)G(4) level. Furthermore the structure of this glass was analyzed by Raman spectroscopy. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.