Spectroscopic properties of Er³⁺ -doped particles-containing phosphate glasses fabricated using the direct doping method

The effect of the incorporation of Er ₂ O ₃ -doped particles on the structural and luminescence properties of phosphate glasses was investigated. A series of different Er ₂ O ₃ -doped TiO ₂ , ZnO, and ZrO ₂ microparticles was synthesized using soft chemistry and then added into various phosphate glasses after the melting at a lower temperature than the melting temperature. The compositional, morphological, and structural analyses of the particles-containing glasses were performed using elemental mapping by field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) with energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry (EDS) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). Additionally, the luminescence spectra and the lifetime values were measured to study the influence of the particles incorporation on the spectroscopic properties of the glasses. From the spectroscopic properties of the glasses with the composition 50P ₂ O ₅ -40SrO-10Na ₂ O, a large amount of the Er ₂ O ₃ -doped particles is thought to dissolve during the glass melting. Conversely, the particles were found to survive in glasses with a composition 90NaPO _3- (10 - x)Na ₂ O-xNaF (with x = 0 and 10 mol %) due to their lower processing temperature, thus clearly showing that the direct doping method is a promising technique for the development of new active glasses.