Tellurite glasses for 1.3 μm optical amplifiers

A large stimulated emission cross section and a low nonradiative relaxation rate can be expected from tellurite glasses. This makes tellurite glasses extremely attractive as high quantum efficiency host materials for rare earth ions. Nd³⁺ doped tellurite singlemode fiber laser and an Er³⁺ doped tellurite singlemode fiber laser oscillation and amplification have recently been demonstrated. The signal-gain characteristics of tellurite-based Er³⁺ doped fiber amplifiers are clarified based on spectroscopic properties and signal-gain measurements. In this paper, the Judd-Ofelt parameters have been computed from the intensities of various absorption bands of Pr³⁺ doped tellurite glasses, and the Judd-Ofelt theory has been applied to characterise the photoluminescence spectra of these glasses