AbstractIn this article, we report on the optical properties of Bismuth doped Epoxy Novolak Resin (ENR) co‐doped with Dysprosium, Cerium, and Yttrium ions. The polymer layers containing 1.0 to 20.0 at % of Bismuth were fabricated by spin‐coating onto silicon or quartz substrates. The properties of the material were studied using several methods with special regards to its potential utilization in photonics devices. Transmission spectra were taken in the range from 350 to 1600 nm, while photoluminescence spectra around 1300 nm were recorded by using excitation of semiconductor lasers operating at 808 nm and at 980 nm (Ex= 250 mW). Optical properties of the samples were evaluated on the bases of the concentration of the Bismuth ions as well as on the concentrations of the co‐doping ions and showed close relations between concentration of the dopants and intensity of the luminescence band at 1300 nm. Our results proved that the Bismuth doped ENR has a strong potential for application in active photonics structures, as it has excellent optical properties and very easy and not demanding fabrication procedures. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012