Impurity Absorption Loss due to Rare Earth Elements in a Fluoride Glass

Abstract
Optical spectra for each of the rare earth element doped BaF2-GdF3-ZrF4 glasses were measured. It was found that, in the 2–5 µm wavelength region, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Tb and Dy contribute to the absorption loss and the loss magnitude due to each rare earth element of lppmw is several tens of dB per kilometer at the absorption peaks. It was concluded that the rare earth impurity concentration in fluoride optical fibers should be decreased to less than 0.1 ppbw in order to make the absorption loss 10-3 dB/km in the 3–4 µm wavelength.

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