Abstract
Luminescence-based waveguide is widely investigated as a promising alternative to conquer the difficulties of efficiently coupling light into a waveguide. But applications have been still limited due to employing blue or ultraviolet light as excitation source with the lower penetration depth leading to a weak guided light. Here, we show a quasi-one-dimensional propagation of luminescence and then resulting in a strong luminescence output from the top end of a single NaYF4:Yb3+/Er3+ microtube under near infrared light excitation. The mechanism of upconversion propagation, based on the optical waveguide effect accompanied with energy migration, is proposed. The efficiency of luminescence output is highly dependent on the concentration of dopant ions, excitation power, morphology, and crystallinity of tube as an indirect evidence of the existence of the optical actived waveguide effect. These findings provide the possibility for the construction of upconversion fiber laser.
Highlights
Luminescence-based waveguide is widely investigated as a promising alternative to conquer the difficulties of efficiently coupling light into a waveguide
Lanthanide ions based micro/nanomaterials have a wide range of applications such as displays[1], in vivo and in vitro imaging[2,3,4], the imaging of cancer cells and detection of biomarker molecules[5,6,7,8], thermometer[9] and enhancement for solar cell devices[10,11]
NaYF4 microtubes codoped with Yb3+/Er3+ (20/2 mol%) were prepared by using hydrothermal method with the assistance of trisodium citrate[41]
Summary
Luminescence-based waveguide is widely investigated as a promising alternative to conquer the difficulties of efficiently coupling light into a waveguide. The efficiency of luminescence output is highly dependent on the concentration of dopant ions, excitation power, morphology, and crystallinity of tube as an indirect evidence of the existence of the optical actived waveguide effect. These findings provide the possibility for the construction of upconversion fiber laser. Lanthanide ions based micro/nanomaterials have a wide range of applications such as displays[1], in vivo and in vitro imaging[2,3,4], the imaging of cancer cells and detection of biomarker molecules[5,6,7,8], thermometer[9] and enhancement for solar cell devices[10,11] Despite these applications, it is necessary to solve the problem of remote propagation of the luminescence to further improve and expand their applications. Compared to blue and ultraviolet excitations, near infrared light as excitation source has the higher penetration depth and less overheating effect and is preferable for applications in optical communication and bioimaging[2,3,4,5,6,40]
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