Inhomogeneous broadening, luminescence origin and optical amplification in bismuth-doped glass.

Absorption and luminescence spectra and optical amplification in bismuth-doped germanate silicate glass were investigated. Two kinds of bismuth ion valence states could exist in the glass. One is Bi2+, which has shown red luminescence, another might be Bi+, which is the active center for infrared luminescence. The infrared luminescence excited at 700, 800, and 980 nm should be ascribed to the electronic transition 3P1 --> 3P0 of Bi+ ions in three distinct sites. The shifting, broadening, and multiple configuration of the luminescence could be due to the randomly disorder of local environment and multiple sites of the active centers. In this glass, obvious optical amplification was realized at 1300 nm wavelength when excited at 808 and 980 nm, respectively.