Spectroscopic Properties of Er

The effect of the incorporation of Er₂O₃-doped particles on the structural and luminescence properties of phosphate glasses was investigated. A series of different Er₂O₃-doped TiO₂, ZnO, and ZrO₂ microparticles was synthesized using soft chemistry and then added into various phosphate glasses after the melting at a lower temperature than the melting temperature. The compositional, morphological, and structural analyses of the particles-containing glasses were performed using elemental mapping by field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) with energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry (EDS) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). Additionally, the luminescence spectra and the lifetime values were measured to study the influence of the particles incorporation on the spectroscopic properties of the glasses. From the spectroscopic properties of the glasses with the composition 50P₂O₅-40SrO-10Na₂O, a large amount of the Er₂O₃-doped particles is thought to dissolve during the glass melting. Conversely, the particles were found to survive in glasses with a composition 90NaPO₃-(10 - x)Na₂O-xNaF (with x = 0 and 10 mol %) due to their lower processing temperature, thus clearly showing that the direct doping method is a promising technique for the development of new active glasses.