Luminescence and Time-Resolved Emission Spectra of Nd3+and Er3+: Silver Zinc Borate Glasses

Abstract

The paper reports the visible-NIR luminescence and time-resolved emission spectral profiles of Nd3+, and Er3+ doped silver zinc borate glasses. Steady state luminescence (SSL) and time-resolved emission spectroscopy (TRES) were used to evaluate how the randomness of the network can influence the emission from rare earth ions in the visible region. As expected the composition of the glasses strongly influences the emission bands of the dopant ions. The lack of homogeneity in the glass network results in distorted and broad luminescence spectra. Moreover, time-resolved techniques allowed the visualization of the time dependence of the spectra. The luminescence was also characterized using steady state techniques and the strongest NIR emission peaks were 4F3/2 à 4Il1/2 for Nd 3+ and 4I13/2 à 4Il5/2 for Er 3+ ions respectively.Key words: Time-resolved emission spectra; decay associated spectra; Nd3+ and Er3+; Silver zinc borate glasses