Room-temperature persistent spectral hole burning ofEu3+coupling withAl3+

Abstract

Room-temperature persistent spectral hole burning was observed in Eu 3ϩ -doped Al 2 O 3 -SiO 2 glasses. The sol-gel-derived Eu 3ϩ -doped glasses were heated in hydrogen gas and irradiated with x ray, in which the oxygen deficient centers were induced in Al-O bonds and some Eu 3ϩ ions were reduced into Eu 2ϩ by heating in hydrogen gas. The spectral holes were burned in the excitation spectra of the 7 F 0 → 5 D 0 transition of Eu 3ϩ . The maximum depth of the hole burned at room temperature was found to be ϳ10% of the total excitation intensity for both the glasses and independent of the treatment conditions of glasses. A proposed model for hole burning is the excitation of the Eu 3ϩ ion and subsequent hole trapping in the oxygen-defect centers in the Al-O bonds. The burnt holes were easily erased by laser irradiation with the energy different from burning one.

Influences of Al3+ and Eu3+ concentration on PSHB properties of melt-quenched Al2O3–SiO2 glasses

“…The hole-depth was increased to the saturated value within a few hundred second of burning time independent of the burning temperature. This RT spectral hole-burning of the Eu 3+ is quite intriguing because usually Eu 3+ in aluminosilicate based matrix needs special treatments such as H 2 gas, X-ray treatment to achieve room temperature PSHB [4]. But our glasses are prepared without any treatment in ambient atmosphere.…”

Photoluminescent changes of Eu3+ in ZnO–SiO2 glasses induced by femtosecond laser

“…The contribution of these reduced Eu 2+ by fs laser in burning-hole process cannot be ignored. On the other hand, in general, OH groups play a major role in the hole-burning process in sol-gel glasses [22]. The increased hole depth may be contributed to the rearrangement of OH bonds surrounding Eu 3+ ions during fs laser irradiation.…”

New Hole‐Burning Observations in Eu3+‐Ion‐Doped Glasses

“…ions are a special case as they show PSHB at room temperature [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] and have a high potential for use in practical memories. As a host material for these rare-earth ions, glass is more favorable than crystals because of its ability to widely distribute rare-earth ions, high transparency, compositional variety, and ease of mass production.…”

“…Recently, we prepared Eu 3+ -ion-doped aluminosilicate glasses and succeeded in observing PSHB at room temperature. [9] Figure 1 shows typical examples of multiple holes burned in the 1E-10A glass using laser beams with five different wavelengths. It is evident that the presence or absence of holes is shown in the spectrum and this material is a good candidate for ultra-density frequency-domain data memory.…”