Silver nanoparticles enhanced luminescence properties of Er³⁺ doped tellurite glasses: Effect of heat treatment

Journal Article · Sun Sep 28 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4896363· OSTI ID:22305694

Fares, Hssen; Férid, Mokhtar ^[1]; Elhouichet, Habib ^[1]; Gelloz, Bernard ^[2]

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1. Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie des Matériaux Minéraux et leurs Applications, Centre National de Recherches en Sciences des Matériaux, B.P. 95 Hammam-Lif, 2050 (Tunisia)
2. Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, 2-24-16 Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8603 (Japan)

Tellurite glasses doped Er³⁺ ions and containing Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) are prepared using melt quenching technique. The nucleation and growth of Ag NPs were controlled by a thermal annealing process. The X-ray diffraction pattern shows no sharp peak indicating an amorphous nature of the glasses. The presence of Ag NPs is confirmed from transmission electron microscopy micrograph. Absorption spectra show typical surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band of Ag NPs within the 510–550 nm range in addition to the distinctive absorption peaks of Er³⁺ ions. The Judd-Ofelt (J-O) intensity parameters, oscillator strengths, spontaneous transition probabilities, branching ratios, and radiative lifetimes were successfully calculated based on the experimental absorption spectrum and the J-O theory. It was found that the presence of silver NPs nucleated and grown during the heat annealing process improves both of the photoluminescence (PL) intensity and the PL lifetime relative to the ⁴I_13/2 → ⁴I_15/2 transition. Optimum PL enhancement was obtained after 10 h of heat-treatment. Such enhancements are mainly attributed to the strong local electric field induced by SPR of silver NPs and also to energy transfer from the surface of silver NPs to Er³⁺ ions, whereas the quenching is ascribed to the energy transfer from Er³⁺ ions to silver NPs. Using the Mc Cumber method, absorption cross-section, calculated emission cross-section, and gain cross-section for the ⁴I_13/2 → ⁴I_15/2 transition were determined and compared for the doped and co-doped glasses. The present results indicate that the glass heat-treated for 10 h has good prospect as a gain medium applied for 1.53 μm band broad and high-gain erbium-doped fiber amplifiers.

• OSTI ID: 22305694
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 116, Issue 12; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Publisher: American Institute of Physics (AIP)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
ABSORPTION
ABSORPTION SPECTRA
ANNEALING
CROSS SECTIONS
DOPED MATERIALS
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ERBIUM ADDITIONS
ERBIUM IONS
GLASS
HEAT TREATMENTS
NANOPARTICLES
OSCILLATOR STRENGTHS
PHOTOLUMINESCENCE
RESONANCE
SILVER
SURFACES
TELLURIDES
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
X-RAY DIFFRACTION