Influence of silver nanoparticles on the infrared-to-visible frequency upconversion in Tm3+/Er3+/Yb3+ doped GeO2-PbO glass

Abstract

We investigated the influence of silver nanoparticles (NPs) on the infrared-to-visible frequency upconversion (UC) in GeO2-PbO glass triply doped with thulium (Tm3+), erbium (Er3+), and ytterbium (Yb3+) ions. The NPs were nucleated inside the samples by heat-treatment of the germanate glass that included small amount of AgNO3 in the starting composition. When excited at 980 nm, in resonance with the Yb3+ transition 2F7/2 → 2F5/2, the samples emit blue light at ≈477 nm due to the Tm3+ ions, green light at ≈530 nm and ≈550 nm due to the Er3+ ions, and red light at ≈652 nm due to Tm3+ and at ≈660 nm due to the Er3+ 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.