Systematical investigations on the influence of Stark splitting of Er on the potential wavelength-tunable of laser and optical amplification in several glasses.

Er-doped glasses and fibers with broadband near infrared (NIR) emission have been widely applied in EDFA. Limited by optical gain band of Er-doped glasses and fibers, it was hardly meet to the demands of broadband amplification in the C + L band. In this work, six glass matrixes were employed for discussing the influence of glass matrix on the Stark splitting of Er and the wavelength of laser output and amplification. The larger scalar crystal-field parameter N induce larger Stark splitting of Er-doped tellurite, germanate, and fluorophosphate glasses, which resulted in larger Δλ. The Stark splitting of Er-doped tellurite, germanate, silicate, and phosphate glasses was mainly derived from homogeneous broadening, which be favor to obtain longer wavelength amplification and laser output. While that of Er-doped fluorophosphate and aluminate glasses was mainly derived from the inhomogeneous broadening, the amplification and laser output of Er tend to operate in the shorter wavelength.