Spectroscopic study of Nd3+ ion-doped Zn-Al-Ba borate glasses for NIR emitting device applications

Trivalent neodymium (Nd3+) -doped Zn-Al-Ba borate glasses of composition (60-x) B2O3+20BaO+10Al(2)O(3)+10ZnO + xNd(2)O(3)(x = 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 mol%) were prepared by a conventional melt-quenching technique and studied their physical, structural, optical and luminescence properties. The amorphous nature of the glasses has been confirmed by X-ray diffraction patterns. The EDAX data shows percent mass of elements of the glass system. FTIR spectra confirm the formation of BO3 and BO4 groups in the glass structure and compared them with Raman spectra. The Judd-Ofelt theory was adopted to analyze the radiative properties of Nd2O3 -doped glasses to derive oscillator strengths (f), JO parameters (Omega(lambda)=2,4,6), stimulated emission cross-sections (sigma(e)), radiative transition probabilities (A(R)), and branching ratios (beta(R)) of various transitions of Nd3+ ions. The lifetime of the F-4(3/2) level of Nd3+ ions in the glasses decreases with the increase of Nd2O3 concentration due to the shortened distance between Nd3+ ion in the glass structure. The strongest emission intensity is found at 1056 nm (F-4(3/2) -> I-4(11/2) transition) when excited by 808 nm. The optimum concentration of Nd2O3 in the studied glasses is found to be 1.0 mol% based on luminescence intensity. All these results were compared with reported research of Nd3+:glasses to determine the lasing potentiality of studied glasses.