THE EFFECT OF ZINC CONTENT ON THE ENHANCEMENT Er3+-Yb3+ LUMINESCENCE PROPERTIES IN THE SILICATE GLASS MATRIX

Abstract

Glasses doped with Er and Yb show strong luminescence around 1530 nm, which makes them attractive luminophores for the preparation of multifunctional optical components. This article is focused on the influence of ZnO on the optical and luminescence properties of Er-Yb zinc-silicate glasses. The influence of silver doping on the resulting luminescence properties of the prepared glasses has also been investigated. Three types of silicate glasses containing different amounts of ZnO and RE ions (Er and Yb) were prepared. For all the glasses prepared, their density, glass-transformation temperature and refractive index were determined. Moreover, these glasses were doped with silver using two methods - ion implantation and ion exchange. The presence of silver metal nanoparticles was observed using optical absorption in the UV-VIS range. Photoluminescence spectroscopy was used to observe the effect of the presence silver or zinc oxide on the intensity of luminescence. The results have shown that the enhancement of ZnO content positively influenced erbium luminescence at 1530 nm without affecting the transparency or homogeneity of the glass matrix. Moreover, the presence Ag+ ions in this special type of glass matrix positively contributed to the enhancement of erbium photoluminescence.

Keywords

• Key words: Glasses
• ZnO
• Erbium
• Ion implantation
• Luminescence