A Review of the Physical, Optical and Photoluminescence Properties of Rare Earth Ions Doped Glasses

Doping glasses with rare-earth ions have garnered significant attention among researchers worldwide. This interest stems from the widespread utilization of rare-earth ions to enhance the optical characteristics of host glasses and exploit the unique spectroscopic properties arising from their optical transitions in the intra-4f shell. Thus, this study reviewed the exceptional potential of rare-earth ion-doped glasses (REIs) in various applications such as solid-state lasers, photonic devices, communication optical fibers, and white light emission. Various methods for the fabrication of glass such as direct melt quenching, sol-gel, ion exchange, sputtering and co-doping techniques were reviewed extensively. The Specific focus was on the physical, optical and photoluminescence properties of glasses produced from glass formers co-doped with rare earth ions. The investigation centers on the comprehensive current applicability of REI-doped glasses. The review concludes based on the physical, optical and photoluminescence properties of rare earth ion-doped glasses that they are extremely useful in photonics, lasers, biomedical and optical communication applications.