1.5 μm luminescence enhancement of Er3+ by local field surface plasmon resonance of Ag nanoparticles in silicate glasses

Enhancement of the 1.5 μm luminescence intensity for (49-x)SiO2-20BaO-20ZnO-10Li2O -0.5Er2O3-xAgNO3 (SBZL0.5Er) (x = 0.0, 0.5, 1.0 coded as 0.5Er0.0Ag, 0.5Er0.5Ag and 0.5Er1.0Ag) glasses were studied. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect was observed for Ag nanoparticle doped glasses. Size of the silver Nanoparticles were calculated theoretically and found to be ~16 nm and ~5.7 nm for 0.5Er0.5Ag and 0.5Er1.0Ag respectively. Stimulated emission cross section calculated from the Judd-Ofelt theory shows 0.63 × 10−20 cm2, 0.74 × 10−20 cm2 and 0.95 × 10−20 cm2 for 0.5Er0.0Ag, 0.5Er0.5Ag and 0.5Er1.0Ag respectively. Stimulated emission cross section calculated from the Mc Cumber theory shows 1.52 × 10−20 cm2, 1.03 × 10−20 cm2 and 1.43 × 10−20 cm2 for 0.5Er0.0Ag, 0.5Er0.5Ag and 0.5Er1.0Ag glasses, respectively. The obtained values are in good agreement to consider them for potential use in C and L band of optical communication window.