Enhanced 2.7 μm emission and energy transfer mechanism of Nd3+/Er3+ co-doped sodium tellurite glasses

2.7 mu m emission properties and energy transfer mechanism of Nd3+/Er3+ co-doped sodium tellurite glasses are investigated in present paper. Absorption and emission spectra were tested to characterize the 2.7 mu m emission properties of Nd3+/Er3+ co-doped sodium tellurite glasses and a reasonable energy transfer mechanism of 2.7 mu m emission between Er3+ and Nd3+ ions was proposed. Intense 2.7 mu m emission was obtained from Nd3+/Er3+ co-doped sodium tellurite glasses due to the efficient energy transfer from Nd3+ to Er3+ ions under 808 nm LD pumping. Meanwhile, strongly decreased 545 nm up-conversion and 1.5 mu m emissions were observed. Additionally, to obtain efficient 2.7 mu m emission, the optimized concentration ratio of Nd3+ to Er3+ was found to be 0.5:1 in present glass system. Our results suggest that the present Nd3+/Er3+ co-doped sodium tellurite glass might have potential application in mid-infrared lasers. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3601353]