Cr3+/Ni2+ co-doped optically transparent magnesium aluminosilicate glass-ceramics containing MgAl2O4 nanocrystals have been prepared by heat-treatment. Greatly enhanced broadband near-infrared emission centered at 1216 nm in Cr3+/Ni2+ co-doped glass ceramics is observed when compared with the Ni2+ single-doped glass ceramics under 532 nm excitation. The observed enhancement of infrared emission is attributed to the energy transfer from Cr3+ to Ni2+ ions in the nanocrystalline phase, which leads to the emission due to 3T2(3F) → 3A2(3F) transition of octahedral Ni2+ ions.

In this article, we report on enhanced broadband near-infrared emission in Yb–Bi codoped phosphate glasses. The emission intensity of Yb–Bi codoped glass was ˜32 times larger than that of Bi-doped glass when excited with 980-nm laser diode. The highest 1/e fluorescent lifetime of Yb–Bi codoped glass reached 1650 μs. The dependence of emission intensity and fluorescent lifetime on Yb2O3 concentration was investigated. The enhancement of the near-infrared emission is due to energy transfer from Yb3+ (2F5/2–2F7/2) transition to Bi ions, and the highest energy transfer efficiency reached 50%. Yb–Bi codoped phosphate glass should be a promising candidate for broadband optical amplification.

Broadband near-infrared (IR) luminescence in transparent alkali gallium silicate glass-ceramics containing Ni2+-doped β-Ga2O3 nanocrystals was observed. This broadband emission could be attributed to the 3T2g (3F) → 3A2g (3F) transition of octahedral Ni2+ ions in glass-ceramics. The full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the near-IR luminescence and fluorescent lifetime of the glass-ceramic doped with 0.10 mol% NiO were 260 nm and ∼1220 μs, respectively. It is expected that transparent Ni2+-doped β-Ga2O3 glass-ceramics with this broad near-IR emission and long fluorescent lifetime have potential applications as super-broadband optical amplification media.

We report on ultrabroad infrared (IR) luminescences covering the 1000–1700-nm wavelength region, from Bi-doped 75GeO2–20RO–5Al2O3–1Bi2O3(R = Sr, Ca, and Mg) glasses. The full width at half-maximum of the IR luminescences excited at 980 nm increases (315 → 440 → 510 nm) with the change of alkaline earth metal (Mg2+→ Ca2+→ Sr2+). The fluorescence lifetime of the glass samples is 1725, 157, and 264 μs when R is Sr, Ca, and Mg, respectively. These materials may be promising candidates for broad-band fiber amplifiers and tunable laser resources.