The structural properties of Er3+: silver lead borate glass is assessed by means of SEM, X-ray mapping, EDS and Raman analysis. In order to verify the time dependency of emission spectra, steady-state luminescence spectroscopy (SSLS) and time-resolved emission spectroscopy (TRES) studies have been performed. The stimulated emission cross-sections for the NIR emission transition I-4(13/2) -> I-4(15/2) (1535 nm) at 970 nm excitation are reported. The decay times were obtained by fitting one (tau(m) = 0.301 ms) and two (tau(m1) = 0.141 ms, tau(m2) = 0.368 ms) distributions for the NIR transition. Furthermore, by making use of TRES measurements the decay associated spectra were obtained allowing the time dependency for the different emission bands to be elucidated. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.