Bandwidth enhancement of MIR emission in Yb3+/Er3+/Dy3+ triply doped fluoro-tellurite glass

Enhanced bandwidth of MIR emission from Yb3+/Er3+/Dy3+ triply doped low phonon oxide glass system has been reported in this work. With considerable gain cross-section, the MIR emission bandwidth can be stretched from ~2600 to 3100 nm (~500 nm) which is practically not possible to obtain from Er3+ or Dy3+ ions singly doped systems. Co-doping of Dy3+ ions not only quenches the unfavourable visible up-converted emissions from Er3+ ions but also mitigates the prominent ~1.5 µm emission. A broad MIR emission on superimposition of Er3+ ~2.76 µm and Dy3+ ~2.95 µm emissions was obtained owing to the efficient energy transfer (ET) Yb3+  →  Er3+  →  Dy3+ upon ~980 nm excitation. The present glasses can be fiberized to develop compact and tunable MIR solid state fiber laser sources.