Hydroxyl-contents and hydroxyl-related concentration quenching in erbium-doped aluminophosphate, aluminosilicate and fluorosilicate glasses

In this paper, we present a study of concentration quenching in Er3+-doped aluminophosphate, aluminosilicate and fluorosilicate glass hosts. Results o f experimental measurements of the excited state lifetime in these glasses, as a function of the Er3+ concentration, are reported. A simulation is pre sented which explains the concentration-dependent reduction in Er3+ excited state lifetime using a model based on quenching by hydroxyl (OH) impuritie s present in the glass. in addition, H-1 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) s pectroscopy is used to make direct measurements of OH contents in rare-eart h (RE) free analog glasses, The OH contents are related to spectral feature s in the infrared absorption spectroscopy in the range 2600-3800 cm(-1). Th e correlation between infrared spectral features and OH content allows a co mparison of the estimated number of quenched Er3+ ions to OH content in the Er3+-doped glasses. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.