Spectroscopic properties of Yb3+ in heavy metal contained fluorophosphate glasses

A new series of 20Bi(PO3)3–10Sr(PO3)2–35BaF2–35MgF2 doped with Yb3+ is introduced for fiber and waveguide laser applications. The stimulated emission cross-section σemi, which was found to be 1.37 pm2 at the lasing wavelength of 996 nm, is the highest one among fluorophosphate glasses. It has been found that an extremely high gain coefficient of G = 1.65 ms pm4 and high quantum efficiency of η = 93% for 1 wt.% Yb2O3 doped systems. The various concentration effects on laser performance properties including minimum pumping intensity Imin, the minimum fraction of excited ions βmin and the saturation pumping intensity Isat are analyzed as a function of Yb2O3 concentration. Those results obtained in current system had advantage over some fluorophosphate glasses reported.