Nanoparticle doping and molten-core methods towards highly thulium-doped silica fibers for 0.79 μm-pumped 2 μm fiber lasers – A fluorescence lifetime study

We study the fluorescence lifetime of Thulium-doped silica fibers for efficient laser operation in the 2 μm “eye-safe” wavelength range pumped by 0.79 μm radiation. A large set of optical fibers prepared by Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition combined with solution doping or nanoparticle doping, and Molten-core method is investigated in terms of fluorescence lifetimes of the 3F4 and 3H4 excited levels, which contain information about the Tm3+ ion environment, the rate of unwanted processes, such as concentration quenching or multiphonon relaxation, as well as the inter-ionic energy-transfer processes, including the cross-relaxation. Maximum evaluated lifetime values are 778 μs for the 3F4 level and 56 μs for the 3H4 level. From the lifetime study, we conclude that for Tm3+ concentrations above 10,000 ppm and enhanced aluminum concentrations above 5 mol. % Al2O3, the cross-relaxation efficiency is enhanced and multiphonon relaxation is remarkably reduced due to the lower phonon energy of the resulting alumino-silicate glass. •Tm-doped fibers prepared by solution and nanoparticle doping, and molten-core method.•Nanoparticle doping, molten-core method useful for fabrication of highly-doped fibers.•Fluorescence lifetime of 3F4 and 3H4 levels of thulium ions determined.•Fluorescence lifetime is a useful probe of spectroscopic quality of Tm-doped fibers.