Enhanced fluorescence from Eu3+ in low-loss silica glass-ceramic waveguides with high SnO2 content

Abstract

We report on the sol-gel fabrication and characterization of (100−x)SiO2–xSnO2 (x=8, 16, and 25mol%) glass-ceramic waveguides doped with 1mol% Eu3+. A suitable top-down thermal process led to the formation of SnO2 nanocrystals ∼4nm embedding Eu3+ ions. The excitation spectra evidence the role of interband electronic transition of SnO2 nanocrystals on the luminescence of Eu3+. Monitoring the D05→F27 Eu3+ emission, we observe about 15 times increase in the intensity of SnO2 absorption band, moving from x=8to25mol%. These waveguides also exhibit low losses, making them quite promising for development of high-gain integrated optical amplifiers.