Phosphate glasses are known to produce high gain for the Er3+ emission into 1540nm, especially when sensitized with Yb. Unfortunately, the phosphate glass matrix tends to be weaker than other available amorphous materials. Being that glasses are engineerable, a study was initiated in order to strengthen the glass structure of a commercially available phosphate laser glass without impacting its laser output efficiencies. Secondly, we seek to understand the impact of the various glass modifiers that drive thermal shock resistance of phosphate glasses on the Er emission manifolds. This report details a number of compositions that were designed, melted and analyzed for properties. Laser output performance results for the glasses that met the targeted parameters are presented.
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