QUANTUM-EFFICIENCY MEASUREMENTS IN OXYGEN-CONTAINING GALLIUM LANTHANUM SULFIDE GLASSES AND FIBERS DOPED WITH PR3+

The production of competitive fiber amplifiers in the 1,3-mu m region requires both good quantum efficiency in the lasing ion and the capabi lity to produce low-loss fibers, Oxygen-doped gallium lanthanum sulphi de (GLS) doped with Pr3+ may provide a route to both, We describe meas urements of the quantum efficiency of Pr3+ emission at 1.3 mu m from t he (1)G(4)-H-3(5) transition in GLS glass and fiber containing varying quantities of lanthanum oxide, We show that oxide containing GLS glas ses, which are known to have considerably better thermal and glass-for ming properties than pure GLS, can show quantum efficiencies of up to 84% of that of pure GLS, No degradation of quantum efficiency is seen when oxide-containing GLS glass is pulled into fiber form.