Thermal stability and spectroscopic study of Ho3+/Yb3+ co-doped fluorophosphates glasses

Abstract Holmium/Ytterbium co-doped fluorophosphate glasses with compositions (80-x-y) NaPO 3 -10SrF 2 -10ZnF 2 - xHoF 3 - yYbF 3 (x = 1 and y = 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 mol%) were prepared by melt-quenching technique. The stability criteria indicate that these glasses exhibit a good resistance against devitrification. Densities of glasses were determined and showed an almost linear variation with increase of YbF 3 content. Spectroscopic parameters of Ho 3+ such as radiative transition probability, branching ratio, spectroscopic quality factor, integrated emission cross section and radiative lifetime, were calculated on the basis of Judd-Ofelt analysis. The results showed that these glasses could be proposed as suitable lasing materials.