Many-body energy-transfer processes between Er sup 3+ ions in yttrium aluminum garnet

Journal Article · Fri Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990 · Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.41.10923· OSTI ID:7149718

Lupei, A; Lupei, V; Georgescu, S; Ursu, I ^[1]; Zhekov, V I; Murina, T M; Prokhorov, A M ^[2]

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1. Central Institute of Physics, Bucharest, (Romania)
2. Institute of General Physics, Moscow, (USSR)

The results of the luminescence-quenching measurements of the {sup 4}{ital S}{sub 3/2} level of Er{sup 3+} in yttrium aluminum garnet are reported. Decay data in a large temperature (10--300 K) and concentration range (0.1--100 at.%) are analyzed. The quenching process depends strongly on concentration and temperature. At low Er{sup 3+} content ({le}3 at.%) the quenching is dominated by two-ion dipole-dipole cross-relaxation processes. It is shown that the previous proposed mechanisms can only explain the high-temperature data, and a possible active mechanism at low temperatures is proposed. At higher concentrations the quenching process depends strongly on temperature, the migration on donors playing an essential role, especially at low temperatures, where the supermigration regime is observed. The quadratic concentration dependence of the transfer parameters at high Er{sup 3+} content is connected with the three-ion cross-relaxation processes. The temperature dependences of the supermigration rates are consistent with two types of three-ion processes, i.e., one phonon-assisted process at low temperatures ({ital T}{lt}100 K) and another very efficient resonant one (({sup 4}{ital S}{sub 3/2},{sup 2}{ital H}{sub 11/2}){r arrow}{sup 4}{ital I}{sub 15/2}){sub {ital D}}+({sup 4}{ital I}{sub 15} 2{r arrow}{sup 4}{ital I}{sub 13/2}){sub {ital A}1}+({sup 4}{ital I}{sub 15/2}{r arrow}{sup 4}{ital I}{sub 9/2}){sub {ital A}} at high temperatures ({ital T}{gt}150 K). It is shown that at 300 K for {ital C}{gt}10 at.% Er{sup 3+} the transfer is of direct donor-acceptor type, due to the above cross relaxation. Thus, at 300 K, the energy from the pumping {sup 4}{ital S}{sub 3/2} level is transferred to the 3-{mu}m laser levels ({sup 4}{ital I}{sub 11/2} and {sup 4}{ital I}{sub 13/2}) by a three-ion cross relaxation.

• OSTI ID: 7149718
• Journal Information: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter; (USA), Journal Name: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter; (USA) Vol. 41:16; ISSN 0163-1829; ISSN PRBMD
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
426002* -- Engineering-- Lasers & Masers-- (1990-)
ALLOYS
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
ALUMINIUM OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHARGED PARTICLES
EMISSION SPECTRA
ENERGY TRANSFER
ERBIUM ADDITIONS
ERBIUM ALLOYS
ERBIUM IONS
GARNETS
IONS
LASERS
LOW TEMPERATURE
LUMINESCENCE
MEDIUM TEMPERATURE
MINERALS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RARE EARTH ADDITIONS
RARE EARTH ALLOYS
SILICATES
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SOLID STATE LASERS
SPECTRA
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
VERY LOW TEMPERATURE
YTTRIUM COMPOUNDS