Parametric Study of Up-Conversion Efficiency in Er-Doped Lanthanide Hosts Under 780 nm/980 nm Excitation Wavelengths

Abstract

Up-conversion is a process of converting low energy light photons to higher energy ones, which can be extensively used in many applications. This paper presents a detailed parametric study of the up-conversion process under different wavelength excitations—780 nm and 980 nm—showing the optical conversion mechanisms that affect the emitted light quantum yield efficiencies. The studied material is erbium-doped β-NaYF4 material, which is one of the most recently studied materials due to its low phonon energy. The studied simulation considers most processes and possible transitions that can take place between Er3+ ions. Einstein coefficients, which are the main parameters that are responsible for the transitions probabilities, are discussed in detail using Judd–Ofelt analysis. In addition, the effect of changing some parametric values is discussed, showing their optimum values that could improve the quantum yield efficiency. This model is very promising, and generic, and can be applied for any host material under any excitation wavelengths by varying the material-dependent parameters.