Fluorescence lifetime study on sol-gel derived Er3+-doped SiO2-TiO2-Al2O3 planar waveguides

In the present paper, we report the preparation of Er3+ doped SiO (formula available in paper) planar waveguides deposited on SOS Silica on silicon substrates using sol-gel process combining with spin-coating and rapid thermal annealing. The recipes used for preparing the solutions by sol-gel process are (formula available in paper). The fluorescence spectra and lifetimes of the planar waveguides were measured under the excitation of 514 nm wavelength from an Ar+ laser. The lifetimes of 3.80 ms, 3.07 ms and 1.59 ms were obtained for 0.5 mole, 1.0 mole and 2.0 mole of Er3+ content planar waveguides respectively. The decay mechanism and the factors that influence the lifetime of the sol-gel planar waveguides have been analyzed.