Er3+/Tm3+ codoped tellurite glass for blue upconversion—Structure, thermal stability and spectroscopic properties

The Er3+/Tm3+ codoped WO3 modified tellurite glasses with molar composition of (75−x)TeO2–20ZnO–5Na2O–xWO3–0.2 wt%Er2O3–0.8 wt%Tm2O3 (x=0,4,8,12 mol%) were prepared to realize the blue upconversion emission. The absorption spectra, visible upconversion spectra and 1.53 µm band fluorescence spectra of glass samples were measured, together with the quantitative calculations of relevant spectroscopic parameters of Tm3+ and energy transfer micro-parameters between Er3+ and Tm3+ ions, to evaluate the effects of WO3 oxide on the spectroscopic properties of Er3+–Tm3+ ions. It was found that the introduction of WO3 oxide can further improve the blue upconversion emission of Tm3+ through an enhanced phonon-assisted energy transfer process. Meanwhile, with the increase of WO3 amount, the thermal stability of glass hosts, characterized by the difference between the glass crystallization onset temperature and the transition temperature which obtained from the measured differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) curves, increased and no obvious crystallization peak was detected when the WO3 amount increased to 12 mol%. Furthermore, the glass structure was briefly analyzed with the obtained Judd–Ofelt intensity parameters, the measured Raman spectra and X-ray diffraction (XRD) curves. The present results demonstrate the feasibility of realizing strong blue upconversion emission by introducing WO3 oxide with high phonon energy into the Er3+/Tm3+ codoped tellurite glass and also indicate its potential application as a glass host applied for the blue upconversion lasers.