Investigation on nonradiative decay of I13/2→I15/2 transition of Er-doped oxide glasses

Nonradiative decay of ⁴I_13/2→⁴I_15/2 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.