Bandwidth broadening of near-infrared emission through nanocrystallization in Bi/Ni co-doped glass

We demonstrated an effective way to broaden the bandwidth of near-infrared (NIR) emission from Bi/Ni codoped 58SiO(2)-21ZnO-13Al(2)O(3)-5TiO(2)-3Ga(2)O(3) glass through nanocrystallization. The nanocrystallized glass shows ultra-wide NIR luminescence with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 350 nm and long lifetime up to 476 mu s. The observed broadband NIR emission, attributed to energy transfer suppression between Ni and Bi active centers, was realized by a separation process with Ni2+ ions selectively incorporated into nanocrystals. This bandwidth engineering through nanocrystallization inside glass suggests a promising approach for enhancement of glass functionality and construction of broadband light sources. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America