Near-infrared quantum cutting luminescence in Pr3+/Yb3+ doped lead bismuth borate glass
M. Seshadri, Ilza Tenório Cavalcante Santos, Maria José Valenzuela Bell, Jérôme Lapointe, Younès Messaddeq, V. Anjos
Abstract
Abstract In this paper, thermally stable lead-bismuth-borate glasses were doped with 0.5 mol% of Pr 3+ ions at several concentration levels of Yb 3+ ions. Structural characterizations were performed via Raman, differential scanning calorimetry, optical absorption and fluorescence spectra. The Judd–Ofelt intensity parameter, $${\Omega }_2$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>Ω</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:math> , of Pr 3+ 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 Pr 3+ . 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 ( $$\sim 1.0\,\upmu {\text {m}})$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1.0</mml:mn> <mml:mspace/> <mml:mi>μ</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>m</mml:mtext> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> features generated by absorbing one visible photon leads to quantum efficiencies close to 128% in Pr 3+ /Yb 3+ 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 Pr 3+ : $$^3F_2 \rightarrow ^3H_4$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:msup> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>F</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msub> <mml:msup> <mml:mo>→</mml:mo> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:msup> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>H</mml:mi> <mml:mn>4</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ( $$\sim 2.0\,\upmu$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2.0</mml:mn> <mml:mspace/> <mml:mi>μ</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> m) were comparatively reported suggesting that the glass with molar composition 0.5Pr 3+ /0.1Yb 3+ might be a potential candidate for $$\sim 2.0\,\upmu$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2.0</mml:mn> <mml:mspace/> <mml:mi>μ</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> m laser operation with low pump threshold.