Enhancement of Optical Telecommunication Bands: Pr 3+ -Doped Halide Phosphate Glasses Display Broadband NIR Photoluminescence Emission.

In the optical energy gap, visible and near-IR emission of halide phosphate glasses with a composition of 40P 2 O 5 -30ZnO-20LiCl-10BaF 2 in mol% doped with 3.5 × 10 4 ppm Pr 2 O 3 , referred to as PZLBPr, were synthesized. The UV-VIS-NIR and spectroscopic properties of these glasses were also predicted. The current glasses had broadband emission photoluminescence covering a wavelength range of 1250 to 1700 nm when excited at 455 nm. These bands for near-infrared emission luminescence relate to the transitions 1 G 4 → 3 H 5 , 1 D 2 → 1 G 4 , and 3 H 4 → 3 F 3 , 3 F 4 in the optical telecommunication window. The significant PL emission wideband was caused by the radiative transition from Pr 3+ : 1 D 2 to 1 G 4 . At 445 nm excitation, these glasses exhibited emission bands that corresponded to blue/reddish orange spectral ranges in visible ranges. The prepared glass has a high lasing quality factor (Ω 4 /Ω 6 = 0.9), high optical energy (4.72 eV), and quantum efficiency = 87.3% with FWHM = 156 nm of transition emission from the 1 D 2 → 1 G 4 level. As a result, broadband near infrared optical amplifiers can be fabricated from the prepared glasses.