Investigation on nonradiative decay of 4I13/2→4I15/2 transition of Er3+-doped oxide glasses

Nonradiative decay of 4I13/2→4I15/2 transition of Er3+ has been investigated in a series of oxide glasses. For Er3+-doped glass samples, the Judd–Ofelt analysis on absorption spectra was performed and the fluorescence lifetime was determined by extrapolating to zero Er3+ concentration limit. Infrared spectra were measured in order to investigate the influence of OH− groups in different glasses. The effects of glass matrix on the decay rate were discussed from the viewpoint of phonon energy, variations of effective fields, and OH− groups. Compared to other glasses, phosphate glass presents low quantum efficiency and large nonradiative decay rate due to its high phonon energy and hygroscopic behavior.