High content Er3+-doped 25La2O3-75Ga2O3 glass: A potential material for high-power lasers or EDWA

High content Er3+-doped xEr(2)O(3)-25La(2)O(3)-(75-x)Ga2O3 glasses are synthesized by the aerodynamic levitation (ADL) technique. By the thermal analysis, all the glasses have high glass-transition temperatures (T-g > 1000 K) and small Delta Ts (<100 K). The glasses have a wide transmission range from 300 nm to 7.5 mu m, indicating a relatively low maximum phonon energy. The mean lifetimes (tau(mean)) of Er3+-doped xEr(2)O(3)-25La(2)O(3)-(75-x)Ga2O3 glasses decrease from 5.91 to 2.14 ms as the Er3+-doped concentration increases from 1 to 10 at.%. Temperature-dependent emission spectrum at 1550 nm in the range of 170K -370K excited by 980 nm laser shows very weak thermal sensitivity. Low phonon energy, high glass transition temperature, excellent mechanical properties, long fluorescence lifetime, and insensitivity of the luminous intensity to ambient temperature make the Er2O3-25La(2)O(3)-74Ga(2)O(3) glass an ideal matrix material for high-power lasers or EDWA. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.