Modified absorption features of titanium-erbium incorporated plasmonic tellurite glass system

Abstract

Achieving efficient lasing glass materials with enhanced absorption and emission cross-section by reducing the Rare Earth (RE) concentration quenching is a challenging issue. Metal nanoparticles (NPs) together with RE ions in the glass matrix are thought as a suitable alternative to overcome the limitations of concentration quenching and weak absorption of inorganic glasses. We prepare a series of Titania-Erbium doped Tellurite glass system with the form (69-x)TeO2-20ZnO-10Na2O-1Er2O3-(x)TiO2, where 0 ≤ x≤ 1.0 mol% via melt-quenching method with optimum erbium contents and varying TiO2 NPs concentrations. The NPs concentration dependent modifications in the absorption characteristics are scrutinized. Glasses are characterized via UV-Vis-NIR and XRD measurements. XRD pattern verifies the amorphous nature of prepared samples. The incorporation of TiO2 NPs is demonstrated to enhance the absorption intensity significantly. This augmentation is attributed to the effect of Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) mediated strong local electric field that is swallowed by neighboring Er3+ ions. The observed modification in optical energy band gap and Urbach energy are ascribed to the strong electric field around NPs that interact with the ligand of glass network to transform weak bond into defects. This observation is useful for the development of plasmonic nanoglass materials applicable for photonic devices.