| Emission from rare earth doped chalcogenide glass is a significant area of research, especially in the mid to far infrared where very few light sources exist. A new chalcogenide glass of composition Ge17As17Se 65Ga1 was synthesized using the conventional ampoule process and was doped with several rare earth species. Thermal and optical studies were conducted in order to determine its suitability as a host for rare earths with emissions in the mid infrared.; The glass had a window of transparency ranging from 800nm to 16 μm, dominated mainly by the weak absorption tail (WAT). This made pumping rare earth absorption bands problematic as only a few were detectable. Impurity bands were also seen in this area, suggesting further improvements are possible upon purification of the starting materials.; Despite this, many emissions were seen, not only in the near IR, but also at wavelengths longer than 4 μm. In particular, Dy3+ doped glass showed emissions at 4.3 and 5.4 μm. Pr3+ exhibited a broadband emission centered roughly at 5 μm. Nd 3+ and Tb3+ also had broad fluorescence in the 5–6 μm region. This makes this chalcogenide glass a novel host for active applications in the mid to far infrared.; The glass had a glass transition temperature of 237°C and x ray diffraction confirmed its amorphous nature. The glass was drawn into a core only fiber with no crystallization upon fiber draw. A core/clad structure was produced using a new extrusion process. This resulted in a preform with a tapered core profile but maintained the same excellent thermal characteristics of the bulk glass. |
