Effect of variable valence impurities on the formation of bismuth-related optical centres in a silicate glass

We have studied the effect of variable valence impurities (cerium and iron) on the formation of bismuth-related IR luminescence centres and the optical loss between 1000 and 1300 nm in a magnesium aluminosilicate glass. The results demonstrate that additional doping of the glass with ceria leads to effective bleaching in a wide spectral range, including the luminescence range of the bismuth centres. At the same time, ceria reduces the concentration of luminescence centres. Gamma irradiation of the glass bleached by cerium restores the luminescence centres but leads to a background loss in a wide spectral range. Iron is shown to be a very harmful impurity in bismuth-doped active media: even trace levels of iron prevent the formation of bismuth-related active centres in the glass and produce a strong, broad absorption band centred near 1 μm.