Microstructure and luminescence of Yb 3+-doped fluorosilicate glass ceramics

Abstract

Yb 3+-doped transparent glass ceramics containing cubic SrF 2 nanocrystals were prepared by heat treating the precursor fluorosilicate glass. The precipitated crystals increase in size and the crystallinity decreases with increasing Yb 3+ doping level. With high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction, the nano-sized nature of SrF 2 was clearly observed. Owing to a significant change in the crystal-field effects with Yb 3+ enriching in the SrF 2 phase, the glass ceramics present near infrared emission with large bandwidths and long lifetimes, simultaneously. This indicates the glass ceramics have potential application in the efficient IR lasers pumping by InGaAs diodes. The glass ceramics can also emit blue upconversion luminescence, deriving from Yb 3+ pairs’ cooperative luminescence. It suggested that Yb 3+ can be an efficient upconversion sensitizer for other rare earth ions.