Effect of residual chlorine on fluorescence emission of Dy3+ doped chalcogenide glasses with low gallium content

Abstract Chlorine or chlorides are usually used as a dehydrating agent for removing the O‐H or S(Se)‐H in the preparation of high‐purity chalcogenide glasses. However, the residual chlorine in some rare‐earth ions doped chalcogenide glasses was found to have a great negative impact on fluorescence emission. In this work, the effect of residual chlorine on the fluorescence emission of Dy 3+ ions in serial (Ge)GaAsSbS glasses was studied quantitatively, and the reasons were discussed. Cl 2 gas and SbCl 3 were used as the source of chlorine and their residual contents were controlled by the post‐distillation process and added content, respectively. The results can give some suggestions for how to eliminate the negative effects of chlorine and improve the glass’ optical gain properties.