Abstract

Several properties of Ge₃₃As₁₂Se₅₅ glass make this material an attractive candidate for rare-earth-doped planar-waveguide devices operating in the 1550-nm range. These properties include infrared transparency, high refractive index, and the ability to pattern waveguides by the photodarkening technique. We have previously investigated the 1540-nm Er³⁺ and the 1640-nm Pr³⁺ emissions in singly doped Ge₃₃As_l2Se₅₅ glasses.^1,2 The photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectra of these PL bands exhibit the expected 980-nm (Er³⁺) and 1040-nm (Pr³⁺) intra-F-band absorption lines. In addition, the PLE spectra show identical broad absorption bands (~550–1000 nm), which we attribute to below-gap defect states in the glass that efficiently transfer energy to the rare-earth centers. In an Er-Pr codoped sample, the overlapping 1540-nm Er³⁺ and 1640-nm Pr³⁺ PL bands create a single broad emission band from ~1500 nm to ~1750 nm.

© 1995 Optical Society of America