Chemical environment of rare earth ions in Ge28.125Ga6.25S65.625 glass-ceramics doped with Dy3+

We have annealed Ge28.125Ga6.25S65.625 glasses doped with 0.5% Dy to create glass-ceramics in order to examine the local chemical environment of the rare earth ions (REI). More than 12 times enhancement of the emission at 2.9 and 3.5 μm was achieved in glass-ceramics produced using prolonged annealing time. Elemental mapping showed clear evidence that Ga2S3 crystalline grains with a size of 50 nm were dispersed in a Ge-S glass matrix in the glass-ceramics, and the REI could only be found near the Ga2S3 crystalline grains. From the unchanged lineshape of the emissions at 2.9 and 3.5 μm and lack of splitting of the absorption peaks, we concluded that the REI were bonded to Ga on the surface of the Ga2S3 crystals.