Ytterbium doped heavy metal oxide glasses with high emission cross-section

Abstract Higher values of emission cross-section (σe) were obtained from the Yb3+-doped M2O(K2O + Na2O + Li2O)–Ga2O3–Nb2O5 and M2O(K2O + Na2O + Li2O)–Ga2O3–Ta2O5 heavy metal oxide (HMO) glasses. All the calculated σe values of Yb3+ are larger than 1.31 (±0.05) pm2, which are the best results ever reported. The highest value reached 1.6194 (±0.03) pm2 in the 40M2O(K2O + Na2O + Li2O)–30Ga2O3–30Nb2O system. These results are attributed to the synergetic effect of disorders of geometric position and electric field surrounding Yb3+. Furthermore, the merits of the present Yb3+-doped HMO glasses demonstrate that these glasses are of promising materials for laser applications.