| Summary: | Broadband tunable solid-state lasers continue to present challenges to scientists today. The gain medium is significant for realizing broadband tunable solid-state lasers. In this investigation, the optical gain performance for Tm<sup>3+</sup> and Cu<sup>+</sup> single-doped and co-doped germanate glasses with broadband emissions was studied via an amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) technique. It was found that the net optical gain coefficients (NOGCs) of Tm<sup>3+</sup> single-doped glass were larger than those for Cu<sup>+</sup> single-doped glass. When Tm<sup>3+</sup> was introduced, the emission broadband width of Cu<sup>+</sup>-doped glass was effectively extended. Moreover, it was found that for the co-doped glass the NOGCs at the wavelengths for Tm<sup>3+</sup> and Cu<sup>+</sup> emissions were larger than those of Tm<sup>3+</sup> and Cu<sup>+</sup> single-doped glasses at the same wavelengths. In addition, the NOGC values of Tm<sup>3+</sup> and Cu<sup>+</sup> co-doped germanate glasses were of the same order of magnitude, and were maintained in a stable range at different wavelengths. These results indicate that the Tm<sup>3+</sup> and Cu<sup>+</sup> co-doped glasses studied may be a good candidate medium for broadband tunable solid-state lasers.
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