PbS: Glass as broad-bandwidth near-infrared light source material

Silicate- and borosilicate-based PbS: glass material and borosilicate-glass-based fibers are fabricated and analyzed. Optical properties including absorption and emission are characterized and related to growth and annealing conditions. In silicate glasses PbS volume fractions of exceeding 0.4 percent and almost octave-spanning emission spectra with a halfwidth of 940 nm are achieved. Fiber bundles with a core being surrounded by three PbS: Glass fibers are pulled. A confinement factor of G = 0.00406 is determined. Emission properties, in particular emission bandwidth, are subsequently tuned and spectrally widened by annealing fibers in a gradient furnace. The results pave the way towards optically pumped broad-bandwidth light emitters based either on 'bulk' PbS: glass or PbS: glass-based fibers. c 2013 Optical Society of America