Optical and Luminescence Properties of Trivalent Rare Earth Ion (Sm3+, Dy3+, and Eu3+) doped Glass for Laser Gain Medium Development : A Review

Abstract

Abstract Recently, development of laser gain medium has been more attractive to be investigated due to the laser application in human daily life. For example, laser is used for medical treatment, surgery, security system, cutting, spectroscopy characterization and sensor. Laser is produced by the system including pump source, resonator, and an optical gain medium. This paper will be focused in a gain medium based on trivalent rare earth ions (Ln³⁺) such as Dy³⁺, Sm³⁺, and Eu³⁺ doped glass. The gain medium is developed by melt and quenching technique. The raw materials are a powder that is melted at the glass transition temperature. Afterwards, the glass liquid is poured at stainless steel at room temperature and annealed for several hours. After the annealing process, the bulk glass is cut and polished for characterization. Physical, optical, and luminescence properties of the gain medium are analyzed and discussed in this paper. The CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram coordinate is calculated to define the proper coordinate of glass sample emission light. The previous research shows that Dy³⁺, Sm³⁺ and Eu³⁺ in glass system can emit white, orange, and reddish-orange excited by 388 nm, 403 nm and 393 nm, respectively. From the results, trivalent rare earth ion doped glass possesses high potential to be developed for laser gain medium material.

Keywords: glass, laser, luminescence, optic, Ln³⁺