Chalcogenide (GeS2)(80)(Ga2S3)(20) glasses doped with 0.6 and 1.8 mol% Er2S3 have been characterized with some basic optical parameters by the evaluation of their absorption and photoluminescence spectra. Typical absorption bands for Er3+ doped glasses have been observed at 656, 802, 980 and 1535 nm, which are connected with the corresponding 4f-shell transitions in Er3+ ions. The Judd-Ofelt (J-O) theory has been applied to calculate J-O intensity parameters Omega(lambda) (lambda =2, 4 and 6) from the experimental oscillator strengths (f(exp)). The J-O intensity parameters have been utilized for the determination of radiative properties such as radiative transition probabilities (A(R)), total radiative transition probabilities (A(T)) and radiative lifetimes (tau(R)). The influence of temperature on the PL emission at similar to 1540 nm using excitation wavelength of 514.4 nm has been specified and spectroscopic properties, such as stimulated emission cross-section and figure of merit (FOM) at the I-4(13/2) -> I-4(5/2) transition, have been determined as well, accounting the role of Er3+ doping level. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.