Optical Properties and Upconversion Luminescence of BaTiO3 Xerogel Structures Doped with Erbium and Ytterbium

Abstract

Erbium upconversion (UC) photoluminescence (PL) from sol-gel derived barium titanate (BaTiO3:Er) xerogel structures fabricated on silicon, glass or fused silica substrates has been studied. The fabricated structures under continuous-wave excitation at 980 nm and nanosecond laser excitation at 980 and 1540 nm demonstrate room temperature PL with the bands at 410, 523, 546, 658, 800 and 830 nm, which correspond to the 2H9/2 → 4I15/2, 2H11/2 → 4I15/2, 4S3/2 → 4I15/2, 4F9/2→ 4I15/2 and 4I9/2→ 4I15/2 transitions in Er3+ ions. The intensity of erbium UС PL increases when an additional macroporous layer of strontium titanate is used beneath the BaTiO3 xerogel layer. It is enhanced for BaTiO3 xerogel films codoped with erbium and ytterbium (BaTiO3:Er,Yb). The redistribution of the intensity of the PL bands is observed for the latter and it depends on the excitation conditions. Finally, a Bragg reflector and a microcavity structure comprising of alternating (BaTiO3:Er,Yb) and SiO2 xerogel layers were fabricated with the cavity mode near the red PL band of Er3+ ions. Enhancement of UC PL from the microcavity was observed for the sample annealed from 450°C to 600°C. The fabricated cavity structures annealed at 450°C allow us to tune the cavity mode with 10 nm shift within the temperature range from +20°C to +130°C. Photonic application of BaTiO3 xerogel structures doped with lanthanides is discussed.