Cooperative luminescence as a probe of clustering in Yb 3+ doped glasses

Abstract

An emission centred around 500 nm under near infrared excitation has been observed in Yb 3+ doped borosilicate, aluminosilicate and phosphate glasses. Lifetime measurements and convolution of infrared luminescence spectra confirm the cooperative nature of this visible emission. Cooperative luminescence intensity, i.e. rare earth clustering, strongly depends on the glass composition studied. In the phosphate glasses, a good correlation is found between the structural evolution of the glass and the cooperative emission intensity.