1.5 μm photoluminescence of Er~(3+) in opal based photonic crystals

摘要

The study of the emission properties of opal-erbium oxide nanocomposites in the wide range of erbium concentrations was carried out. Erbium oxide concentration was varied from 0.25 to 16%wt. Maximal output of the photoluminescence (PL) took place at l%wt of erbium oxide concentration. It was shown that the annealing temperatures from 600 to 900°C were too low to exhibit sufficient emission properties of the erbium-opal composites. The presence of the erbium silicates Er_2SiO_5 and Er_2Si_2O_7 in the opal-erbium nanocomposites was revealed by X-ray phase analysis. Amorphous silica in opal matrix was not crystallized at the annealing during a few hours at 1000 -1200°C. The case of the tens hours of annealing the crystoballite phase occurred. No angle dependence of the PL intensity was observed as a result of degradation of the photonic band gap (PBG) at the annealing of the opal-erbium oxide nanocomposites. Further modification of the material processing to achieve a strong photonic band gap reflection peak near 1550 nm with high PL intensity in the opal-Er_2O_3 composite is running.