Spectroscopic investigations of Sm3+doped phosphate glasses: Judd-Ofelt analysis

Abstract Phosphate glasses with chemical compositions of (42– x/2) P 2 O 5 -(42– x/2)Na 2 O-15ZnO–xSm 2 O 3 were synthetized by melt quenching method. We investigated the influence of Sm 3+ doping on the optical properties of phosphate glasses. X-Ray Diffraction indicates that the samples have an amorphous structure. DSC measurements show a good thermal stability of phosphate glasses. Using the absorption spectra, Judd-Ofelt analysis was applied to absorption bands of Sm 3+ (4f 5 ) to carry out the three phenomenological parameters of Judd-Ofelt (JO). According to the obtained values of Ω 2 , Ω 4 and Ω 6 , some radiative properties were theoretically determined. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra show three transitions of Sm 3+ : 4 G 5/2  →  6 H 5/2 (600 nm), 4 G 5/2  →  6 H 7/2 (564 nm) and 4 G 5/2  →  6 H 9/2 (645 nm). The concentration dependency of PL intensity was investigated. The quenching of the PL intensity occurs at the Sm 3+ concentration above 1%. The predicted lifetime ( τ r ) calculated by using JO method and the measured lifetime ( τ mea ) determined experimentally for 4 G 5/2 level, were discussed and compared with those of other works. With the weak spectroscopic quality factors Ω 4 /Ω 6 (0.76), we expect a relatively prominent infrared laser emission.