Rare Earth Doped Fluoride Glass Ceramics: Fabrication of Waveguides by PVD and Application

Er3+-doped fluoride glass ceramics planar waveguides containing LaF3 or binary LaF3-ZrF4 nanocrystals have been fabricated by Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD). A quantitative analysis of the photoluminescence of the 1.54 ?m emission band of Er3+ ions has demonstrated that erbium ions are partitioned in both crystals and vitreous phase. The solubility of Er3+ in the segregated LaF3 nanocrystals can reach 30 mol%. The emission bandwidth has been found to be greater than that of the precursor glass (71 nm at the half-height width). In order to increase the luminescence of Er3+, codoping with Yb 3+ and Ce3+ has also been studied. The high Er 3+ concentration and spectral width could make this nanostructured fluoride material suitable for planar amplifier in the C telecommunication band.