Absorption and fluorescence properties of Eu3+ doped alkali mixed heavy metal fluoride glasses

Abstract In this paper, we report the preparation of Eu 3+ doped ZrF 4 −AlF 3 −BaF 2 -RF (where RF = LiF-NaF or NaF-KF pairs) glasses in six different RF chemical compositions. For these europium glasses, we made a systematic study on the various physical properties namely the refractive index, density, dielectric constant, non-linear refractive index co-efficient based on the chemical composition. By combining the Judd-Ofelt results obtained from optical absorption studies with those of the fluorescence measurements at 300 K and 77 K, we verified the suitability of chemical composition of the glass in the selection of an ideal optical glass for the characterisation of efficient laser emission from the europium ion. The lifetimes of the luminescent state 5 D 0 → 7 F 2 of europium glasses were measured both at room and liquid nitrogen temperatures by using an argon ion laser source.