Spectroscopic properties and thermal stability of Er3+-doped germanate-borate glasses

Er3+-doped germanate-borate glass samples xGeO(2)-(80-x)B2O3-10ZnO-10BaO (x=0-80) have been prepared. Their thermal stability against crystallization and spectroscopic properties were investigated. The obtained data indicated that germanate-borate glass could be used as potential host material for developing optical amplifiers. However, OH-groups, introduced from boric acid, enhanced the radiation trapping effect in glasses samples and resulted in overestimate of the spectral bandwidth of I-4(13/2) level. The mechanism of OH-groups leading to enhancing the radiation trapping was discussed. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.