Thermal, chemical, optical properties and structure of Er3+-doped and Er3+/Yb3+-codoped P2O5–Al2O3–ZnO glasses

Abstract This study was explored in series of the optical, thermal, and structure properties based on 60P2O5–10Al2O3–30ZnO (PAZ) glasses system that doped with varied rare-earth (RE) elements Yb2O3/Er2O3. The glass transition temperature, softening temperature and chemical durability were increased with RE-doping concentrations increasing, whereas thermal expansion coefficient was decreased. In the optical properties, the absorption and emission intensities also increase with RE-doping concentrations increasing, When Er2O3 and Yb2O3 concentrations are over than 3 mol% in the Er3+-doped PAZ system and Yb3+-doped concentration is over than 3 mol% for Er3+/Yb3+-codoped PAZ system, the emission intensity significantly decreases presumably due to concentration quenching, formation of the ions clustering, and OH− groups in the glasses network. It is suggested that the maximum emission cross-section (σe) is 7.64 × 10− 21 cm2 at 1535 nm is observed for 3 mol% Er3+-doped PAZ glasses. Moreover, the maximum σe × full-width-at-half-maximum is 327.8 for 5 mol% Er3+-doped PAZ glasses.