Resonant nonradiative energy transfer to erbium ions in amorphous hydrogenated silicon

Abstract

The simultaneous study of absorption, luminescence, and ODMR spectra of erbium doped a-Si:H and a SiCx:H alloy reveals that Er3+ ions are pumped by a resonant but nonradiative energy transfer from electron–hole pairs excited in the host. Direct optical pumping into absorption lines of Er3+ is not observed. The emission of the Er3+ ions is strong and decreases only moderately from 77 K to room temperature. We propose an energy transfer by a Förster mechanism, based on resonant dipole coupling, which quenches efficiently the luminescence of the host in the case of large erbium concentration. Resonance of electron–hole pairs to the excited state of the rare earth ion is achieved as electrons thermalize in tail states.