Spectroscopic properties of Er{sup 3+}- and Yb{sup 3+}-doped soda-lime silicate and aluminosilicate glasses

Journal Article · Wed Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1997 · Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.56.9302· OSTI ID:553975

Hehlen, M P; Cockroft, N J; Gosnell, T R ^[1]; Bruce, A J ^[2]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mailstop E535, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)
2. Lucent Technologies, 700 Mountain Avenue, Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974 (United States)

A spectroscopic investigation of an extensive series of Er{sup 3+}-doped and Er{sup 3+},Yb{sup 3+}-codoped soda-lime-silicate (SL) and aluminosilicate (AS) glasses is presented. Compared to SL glasses, 4f transitions in AS glasses show higher oscillator strengths, larger inhomogeneous broadening, and smaller crystal-field splittings of the respective excited-state multiplets. The Er{sup 3+} excited-state relaxation dynamics is adequately described by a combination of the Judd-Ofelt model and the energy-gap law. With the exception of {sup 4}I{sub 13/2}, multiphonon relaxation is dominant for all excited states, making it possible to efficiently pump the 1.55 {mu}m {sup 4}I{sub 13/2}{r_arrow}{sup 4}I{sub 15/2} emission by excitation of {sup 4}I{sub 11/2} at around 980 nm. The absolute {sup 4}I{sub 13/2} luminescence quantum yield, for low 980-nm excitation density ({approximately}5W/cm{sup 2}), {eta}, is {approximately}0.9 at 0.4 mol{percent} Er{sub 2}O{sub 3} and drops to about 0.65 upon increasing Er{sub 2}O{sub 3} to 1.2 mol{percent}, indicating the onset of energy-transfer processes. Samples with high OH{sup {minus}} impurity concentration suffer from significantly higher quenching of {sup 4}I{sub 13/2} luminescence at higher Er{sup 3+} concentrations. Energy migration to the minority of Er{sup 3+} ions coordinated to OH{sup {minus}}, followed by efficient multiphonon relaxation accounts for this effect. At low excitation densities, the strong near-infrared absorption of Yb{sup 3+} in combination with efficient Yb{r_arrow}Er energy transfer increases the {sup 4}I{sub 13/2} population density in Yb{sup 3+},Er{sup 3+}-codoped samples by up to 2 orders of magnitude compared to equivalent samples without Yb{sup 3+}. (Abstract Truncated)

• OSTI ID: 553975
• Journal Information: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter, Journal Name: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter Journal Issue: 15 Vol. 56; ISSN PRBMDO; ISSN 0163-1829
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ALUMINIUM SILICATES
CALCIUM SILICATES
CRYSTAL FIELD
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE
EMISSION SPECTRA
ENERGY GAP
ERBIUM
ERBIUM ADDITIONS
EXCITED STATES
GLASS
INFRARED SPECTRA
LINE BROADENING
LUMINESCENCE
OSCILLATOR STRENGTHS
PHOTOLUMINESCENCE
RELAXATION
SODIUM SILICATES
YTTERBIUM
YTTERBIUM ADDITIONS