Intense infrared-to-visible upconversion emissions in Tm3+∕Yb3+ codoped water-free low silica calcium aluminosilicate glasses have been obtained under excitation at 976nm. The results showed that as the pump power/intensity is increased, a reduction of up to one order of magnitude at the 800∕480nm emitted intensity ratio is observed; characterizing what can be denominated as luminescent switching. The physical origin of this switching is discussed and explained in terms of the tailoring of luminescent switchers to operate in a large range of pump powers, what could be used in the development of sensors and networks for optical processing and optical communications.
This Letter reports the formation of Ti3+ in OH- free aluminosilicate glass melted under vacuum condition, with a very long lifetime (170 micros) and broad emission band shifted towards the visible region. This lifetime value was attributed to the trapping of the excited electrons by the glass defects and detrapping by thermal energy, and it is 2 orders of magnitude higher than those published for Ti3+ doped materials. Our results suggest that this glass is a promising system to overcome the challenge of extending the spectral range of traditional tunable solid state lasers towards the visible region.
Energy transfer (ET) and heat generation processes in Yb(3+)/Tm(3+)-co-doped low-silica calcium-aluminosilicate glasses were investigated using thermal lens and photoluminescence measurements. Stepwise ET processes from Yb(3+) to Tm(3+), with excitation at 0.976 mum, produced efficient emission in the mid-infrared range at around 1.8 mum, with high fluorescence quantum efficiency (~0.50) and relatively low thermal loading (=0.42). An equation was deduced for the description of the thermal lens results which provided the absolute value of the ET efficiency and optimal Tm3+ concentration that result in population of the 1.8 mum Tm(3+) emitting level. These results suggest that the studied co-doped system would be a promising candidate for the construction of high-power diode-pumped solid-state lasers in the mid-infrared range, which are especially important for the purpose of medical procedures.
Pump and thermally induced color tunabilities were demonstrated in Yb(3+)/Tm(3+) codoped low silica calcium aluminosilicate (LSCAS) glass under anti-Stokes excitation at 1.064 microm. The effects of pump intensity and sample's temperature on the upconversion emissions and mainly on the color tunabilities (from 800 to 480 nm) were investigated. The results revealed a 20- and a threefold reductions at 800/480 nm ratio as, respectively, the pump intensity and sample's temperature were increased from 27 to 700 kW/cm(2) and from 296 to 577 K. These behaviors with pump intensity and temperature (a strong increase of the 480 nm emission in comparison with the 800 nm one) were attributed to the several efficient processes occurring in the LSCAS system (Yb(3+)-->Tm(3+) energy-transfer processes, easy saturations of the Yb(3+) and Tm(3+) excited states, and radiative emissions). Besides these assigns, the temperature dependence is mainly assigned to the temperature-dependent effective absorption cross section of the ytterbium sensitizer through the so-called multiphonon-assisted anti-Stokes excitation process. Theoretical analyses and fits of the experimental data provided quantitative information.
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