Near-infrared quantum cutting luminescence in Pr3+/Yb3+ doped lead bismuth borate glass

Abstract

In this paper, thermally stable lead-bismuth-borate glasses were doped with 0.5 mol% of Pr3+ ions at several concentration levels of Yb3+ ions. Structural characterizations were performed via Raman, differential scanning calorimetry, optical absorption and fluorescence spectra. The Judd–Ofelt intensity parameter, $${\Omega }_2$$ Ω 2 , of Pr3+ doped glass was comparatively higher than those from reported ones, which reflects the increase of co-valency and asymmetry of chemical bonds in the local environment of Pr3+. Near-infrared emission in 900–2200 nm wavelength range was recorded through 443 nm blue laser pumping. Visible to near-IR quantum cutting and concentration quenching mechanisms were discussed to understand the luminescent behaviour. Intense IR emission ($$\sim 1.0\,\upmu {\text {m}})$$ ∼ 1.0 μ m ) features generated by absorbing one visible photon leads to quantum efficiencies close to 128% in Pr3+/Yb3+ co-doped samples which may improve the solar spectrum absorption and accordingly, increase the efficiency of c-Si solar cells. Emission cross-section, lifetime, figure of merit and gain bandwidth corresponding to Pr3+: $$^3F_2 \rightarrow ^3H_4$$ 3 F 2 → 3 H 4 ($$\sim 2.0\,\upmu$$ ∼ 2.0 μ m) were comparatively reported suggesting that the glass with molar composition 0.5Pr3+/0.1Yb3+ might be a potential candidate for $$\sim 2.0\,\upmu$$ ∼ 2.0 μ m laser operation with low pump threshold.

Extending the Palette of Luminescent Primary Thermometers: Yb3+/Pr3+ Co-Doped Fluoride Phosphate Glasses

“…Glasses containing Pr 3+ /Yb 3+ are also known for displaying upconversion light emission due to a Yb 3+ -to-Pr 3+ energy transfer process, where the emission of Pr 3+ in the Vis spectral range is induced by NIR excitation of the 2 F 5/2 level of Yb 3+ . 46,47 Although upconversion was observed for the PY14 and PY18 co-doped glass samples, it required a high laser excitation power density (> 100 W cm −2 ), with the laserinduced heating resulting in a local temperature increment which was high enough to break the samples. Nevertheless, measurements were performed by using the ground samples prepared for the solid-state MAS-NMR studies, where their upconversion emission spectra under 980 nm laser excitation are presented in Figure S10, displaying the characteristic emission bands of Pr 3+ in the visible spectral range.…”