Comparative study of optical and luminescence properties of Nd3+-ions doped K2O/KF − Gd2O3 − P2O5 glasses laser and O-band wave-guide amplifier application

Nd³⁺-ions doped KF-Gd₂O₃-P₂O₅ and K₂O-Gd₂O₃-P₂O₅ glasses were comparatively studied for optical, laser and O-band waveguide amplifier applications. The density, molar volume and refractive index of K₂O-Nd glass are higher than KF-Nd glass. K₂O-Nd glass has higher value of ΔE which is attributed to have greater proneness to transfroming weak-bonds into structural defects. For both the K₂O-Nd and KF-Nd glasses, Ω₄ > Ω₆ > Ω₂ is the observed trend of JO-parameters which indicate the high viscosity for both the glasses under investigations. Three characteristic emission transitions corresponding to ⁴F_3/2 → ⁴I_9/2 (902 nm), ⁴F_3/2 → ⁴I_11/2 (1059 nm) and ⁴F_3/2 → ⁴I_13/2 (1327 nm) were observed for K₂O-Nd and KF-Nd glasses. The NIR band emission spectra of Nd³⁺-ion doped K₂O-Nd and KF-Nd glasses under λ_ex = 580 nm cover telecommunication O-band window (1275–1425 nm). The stimulated-emission cross-section σ(λ_P) for K₂O-Nd glass has higher value as compared KF-Nd glass. The experimental branching ratio for both glasses have value greater than 50 %. All these result depict that K₂O-Nd and KF-Nd glasses have higher potential for low threshold and high gain laser, integrated optical wave-guide and O-band gain flattened wave-guide amplifiers.