Ultrabroadband near-Infrared Photoemission from Bismuth-Centers in Nitridated Oxide Glasses and Optical Fiber

Abstract

Wideband NIR-emitting materials are crucial components in light sources and tunable lasers for sensing, metrology, and optical amplification. While traditional rare-earth (RE) doped gain media have reached their limit in bandwidth, Bismuth-doped glasses have been evolving as an interesting alternative with unmatched spectral performance. However, serious issues remain for this type of material, in particular, in achieving the desired spectral bandwidth while providing the ability of fiber drawing on part of the matrix glass, and in terms of stabilization of the active Bismuth center in secondary processing steps at high temperature. Here, we report on chemical nitridation of Bidoped glasses as a means to enhance local network rigidity and, thus, stabilize the NIR active emission species and increase Birelated NIR emission efficiency. At the same time, we show that the existence of nitride bonds leads to the emergence of germanium-related Bi emission centers, which further enhance the spectral bandwidth of Bidoped optical emitters to >600 nm. Beating previous materials, the emission band envelope spans the complete NIR region, that is, from the transparency windows of biological tissue over the low-loss O-band of optical communication which is hardly accessible with typical RE-based materials to the more common C- and L-bands. For demonstration purpose, optical fiber is manufactured from nitridated, Bidoped germanate glass through the rod-in-tube-technique, with NA ∼ 0.14 and stable NIR emission from germanium-related Bi emission centers. This shows how nitridation offers new potential in the design of Bibased optical amplifiers and tunable lasers, and the exploration of novel photonic materials.

None‐rare‐earth activated Ca14Al10Zn6O35:Bi3+,Mn4+ phosphor involving dual luminescent centers for temperature sensing

“…Studies have shown that Bi 3+ acted as an excellent sensitizer ion to enhance the luminescence intensity of activator. Moreover, it provides broadband emission from UV‐Vis‐NIR and presents huge potential in fields of lighting, laser, and amplifier . The spectroscopic property of Mn 4+ was susceptible to surroundings in an octahedral host and its thermal response was dependent on its crystal lattice and tunable energy levels.…”

Controllable ultra‐broadband visible and near‐infrared photoemissions in Bi‐doped germanium‐borate glasses

“…34 Figure 2 gives the Raman spectra of the glass samples to further explain the structural changes. According to previous reports, 16,27 the broadband centered at 340 cm −1 is assigned to Gd/La-O − stretching vibration modes (nonbridging oxygen), whereas the band at 554 cm −1 is associated with symmetric stretching vibrations of Ge-O-Ge in six-GeO 4 Ge-O-Ge linkage increases gradually, and it then decreases when further increasing Bi 2 O 3 concentration; while the vibration intensity of B-O bonds in both BO 4 units and boroxol rings change in the opposite trend. As well-known, Bi 2 O 3 normally acts as a network modifier in multicomponent glass structure.…”

Luminescence and electrical properties of Eu‐modified Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 multifunctional ceramics

“…In addition, bismuth‐doped or ‐based materials present unique photoluminescence features, because Bi 3+ can function as both an activator and a sensitizer. Typically, Bi‐doped materials can be developed as phosphors to radiate from UV to IR region . Therefore, in this paper, we have studied Eu 3+ ‐doped BNT ceramic in order to improve its electrical properties and achieve excellent luminescence properties …”

“…Typically, Bi-doped materials can be developed as phosphors to radiate from UV to IR region. [22][23][24][25] Therefore, in this paper, we have studied Eu 3+ -doped BNT ceramic in order to improve its electrical properties and achieve excellent luminescence properties. 17,[26][27][28][29][30][31] In this paper, ceramics containing different amounts of Eu 3+ ions were developed by the solid-state reaction method.…”