Infrared transmission and Raman scattering have been used to study Raman active phonons and crystal-field excitations in Yb3+-doped yttrium, lutetium and scandium orthosilicate crystals (Y2SiO5 (YSO), Lu2SiO5 (LSO) and Sc2SiO5 (SSO)), which belong to the same C2h6 crystallographic space group. Energy levels of the Yb3+ ion 2F5/2 manifold are presented. In the three hosts, Yb3+ ions experience high crystal field strength, particularly in Yb:SSO. Satellites in the infrared transmission spectra have been detected for the first time in the Yb3+-doped rare earth orthosilicates. They could be attributed to perturbed Yb3+ sites of the lattices or to magnetically coupled Yb3+ pairs.

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Ytterbium ions infrared and visible cooperative luminescences, resulting from YAG laser and selective site excitations, in (6%) Ybdoped Y 2 SiO 5 thin film are analyzed. Magnetically coupled Yb-Yb ion pairs seem to play a major role in energy transfer and cooperative emission, confirming the prevalence of superexchange mechanisms. r

In this paper we investigate the optical effects of annealing under an oxygen atmosphere of Yb-doped Y2SiO5 thin films grown by liquid phase epitaxy. Infrared transmission, particularly adapted to thin film characterizations by means of Yb3+ crystal field excitations, is used to single out the effects of annealing. For instance, absorption intensities increase by ∼10% and disorder in Yb3+ substitution is reduced. Micro-Raman backscattering measurements detect no particular defects in as-grown and annealed thin films.

Yb 3+ crystal field excitations in ytterbium doped Y 2 SiO 5 and Lu 2 SiO 5 single crystals and thin films are studied under an applied magnetic field. The ground and excited state g-factors that are needed for the calculation of reliable crystal field Hamiltonian parameters are determined. Some of the Yb 3+ ions that substitute for the Y 3+ or Lu 3+ ions give rise to Yb 3+ -Yb 3+ magnetically interacting pairs as confirmed by their crystal field absorption bands under a magnetic field. The overall crystal field excitation characteristics confirm the strong similarities between the single crystals studied and thin films.