Highly fluorinated hybrid glasses doped with (erbium-ions/CdSe nanoparticles) designed for advanced laser amplifiers

Bridged polysilsesquioxanes were synthesized by modifying the Si-O-Si polymeric network to produce highly nanoporous glasses for facile and uniform doping of nanoparticles. By taking advantages of void volumes created through the molecular modification technique, we designed and synthesized hexylene- and fluoroalkylene-bridged polysilsesquioxanes doped with both Er⁺³ ions/CdSe nanoparticles for amplifier applications. Significant enhancement in fluorescence intensity at 1540 nm has been observed from the fluoroalkylene-bridged glass. Analysis by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) indicates a dramatically enhanced degree of condensation and a low level of hydroxyl environment in the fluoroalkylene-bridged hosts. The presence of CdSe nanoparticles, by virtue of their low phonon energy, also appears to significantly influence the nature of the surrounding photoluminescence environment of Er⁺³ ions in those organically modified hosts, resulting in the increased photoluminescence intensity.