Abstract. Tm 3+ -doped Li 2 O-SrO-ZnO-Bi 2 O 3 (LSZB) glasses that are suitable for optical amplifier applications have been fabricated through the conventional melt-quenching method, and the spectroscopic properties of Tm 3+ in the glasses were characterized. The density, the refractive indices, the optical absorption, the Judd-Ofelt parameters Ω t , and the spontaneous transition probabilities of the glasses were measured and calculated. Using the least-squares fitting method, the Judd-Ofelt intensity parameters Ω t were found to be 2 =4.2910 -20 cm 2 , 4 =1.1610 -20 cm 2 , and 6 =0.8410 -20 cm 2 . Intense 1.47-m fluorescence was observed in these glass systems under 785-nm excitation. The emission peak from the Tm 3+ : 3 H 4 3 F 4 transition locates around 1.47-µm with a bandwidth is ~112 nm, which is significantly wider than the bandwidth of Tm 3+ -doped ZBLAN at 80nm but smaller than that in KBG glasses. The results indicate that Tm 3+ -doped LSZB glasses is a promising host material for applications in optical amplifiers.