Er/sup 3+//Yb/sup 3+/ Co-doped P/sub 2/O/sub 5/-Nb/sub 2/O/sub 5/-Na/sub 2/O-Ga/sub 2/O/sub 3/-PbCl/sub 2/ glasses for optical waveguide laser and amplifier

Er/sup 3+//Yb/sup 3+/ Co-doped lead niobium-phosphate glasses suitable for waveguide laser and amplifier at 1.53 /spl mu/m operation are prepared, the host compositions of which are P/sub 2/O/sub 5/, Na/sub 2/O, Ga/sub 2/O/sub 3/, Nb/sub 2/O/sub 5/and PbCl/sub 2/ and allow us to add high rare earth concentration. The measured absorption is analyzed by Judd-Ofelt and McCumber theory in order to obtain the spectroscopic properties of the glasses. The results show that, compared with the traditional phosphate glasses and silicate glasses, the peak value of emission cross section (6.20/spl times/10/sup -21/ cm/sup 2/) and effective bandwidth (56.6nm) of the lead niobium-phosphate glass are larger. The fluorescence lifetime of metastable state /sup 4/I/sub 13-2/ is long enough to make the glass suitable to be used in optical amplification devices.