Influence of silver nanoparticles on the infrared-to-visible frequency upconversion in Tm~(3+)/Er~(3+)/Yb~(3+) doped GeO_2-PbO glass

摘要

We investigated the influence of silver nanoparticles (NPs) on the infrared-to-visible frequency upconversion (UC) in GeO_2-PbO glass triply doped with thulium (Tm~(3+)), erbium (Er~(3+)), and ytterbium (Yb~(3+)) ions. The NPs were nucleated inside the samples by heat-treatment of the germanate glass that included small amount of AgNO_3 in the starting composition. When excited at 980 nm, in resonance with the Yb~(3+) transition ~2F_(7/2) → ~2F_(5/2), the samples emit blue light at ≈477nm due to the Tm~(3+) ions, green light at ≈530nm and ≈550nm due to the Er~(3+) ions, and red light at ≈652nm due to Tm~(3+) and at ≈660nm due to the Er~(3+) ions. Due to the silver NPs, the photoluminescence intensity grows by ≈60% in comparison with a sample having the same composition but without silver NPs. This is the first time that UC enhancement due to metallic NPs is investigated for a triply rare-earth (RE) doped glass. The results indicate the possibility of development of more efficient three-dimensional RE based color displays by nucleation of metallic particles in the glass host.