Er ³⁺ ‐doped antimony‐silica glass and fiber for broadband optical amplification

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, the synthesis, structure, and optical analysis of Er 3+ ‐doped antimony‐silica glass system are reported. The hybridization of Si with Sb ions is found to be favorable for reducing the phonon energy of the glass system. The optical properties, including the emission intensity and bandwidth, can be simultaneously improved. Notably, the full width at half maxima (FWHM) of near‐infrared emission from Er 3+ can be broadened from 61 to 82 nm. Furthermore, the antimony‐silica glass fiber is successfully prepared, and the luminescence and gain performance of the fiber are characterized. The antimony‐silica glass exhibits excellent fiber‐forming ability, and the obtained fiber shows excellent gain performance. The results suggest that antimony‐silica glass is a promising gain material for fiber amplifier and laser.