Abstract
In this work, we have used the thermal lens technique combined with conventional
spectroscopy to characterize the thermo-optical properties of Er3+-doped lead
pyrophosphate-based glasses. More precisely, we have investigated and quantified
experimentally the fluorescence quantum efficiencies of the Er3+ levels, and we describe
the role of concentration quenching effects. The fluorescence quantum efficiency of the
4I13/2 level is very high when compared to other phosphate glasses, while that of the
green-coupled levels is very small. Other important photonic materials parameters, such
as the thermal diffusivity and temperature coefficient of the optical path length change,
were obtained and compared with those of other glass systems. The cumulative results
obtained here for the Er-doped lead pyrophosphate glass show that this material is a
good candidate for photonic applications with a characteristic Er3+ infrared emission
around 1550 nm.