Intense red upconversion emission of Yb/Tm/Ho triply-doped tellurite glasses.

By conventional melting and quenching methods, 3Yb2O3-0.2Tm2O3-xHo2O3 (wt%, x=0.2~1.2) was doped into an easily fiberized tellurite glass with composition of 78TeO2-10ZnO-12Na2O (mol%) to form YTH-TZN78 glasses. Under 976 nm excitation, the direct sensitizing effect of Yb ions (Yb→Ho) and indirect sensitizing and self-depopulating effects of Tm ions (Yb→Tm→Ho) were found to present intense red upconversion emission at 657 nm (Red, Ho:5F5→5I8) and were responsible for the absence of the usually observed 484 nm emission (Blue, Tm:1G4→3H36). Regardless of the dopant concentration of Ho ions, the intensity of the red emission at 657 nm (Red, Ho:5F5→5I8) is about three times stronger than that of the green one at 543 nm (Green, Ho:5S2→5I8). For this certain red emission at 657 nm, 0.4 wt% Ho2O3-doped YTH-TZN78 glass was found to present the highest emission intensity and is therefore determined as a promising active tellurite glass for red fiber laser development.