Synthesis and luminescence properties of Er3+-Yb3+ doped glass ceramics with tridymite structure

Abstract

By melt annealing technique, Er3+-Yb3+ co-doped precursor glass (PG) was prepared. Glass ceramics (GCs) containing KZnPO4 crystal phase with tridymite structure were obtained by heat treatment of PG. The optimum heat treatment conditions of GCs are 670 °C for 60 min. Under these conditions, the average grain size of GC is about 205 nm, and the light transmittance in the visible region is about 80%. Through the analysis of the Rietveld refinement results of XRD, the lattice constants a and b of KZnPO4 crystal decreased from 18.155 Å to 18.109 Å, and c decreased from 8.504 Å to 8.451 Å. Therefore, it is inferred that Er3+ and Yb3+ replace the Zn2+ in the lattice. The green up-conversion luminescence of GC is about 10 times that of PG excited by 980 nm laser. The optimal doping concentrations of Er3+ and Yb3+ in GCs are 0.5% and 1.0%, respectively. The calculation results of chromaticity coordinates show that Er3+-Yb3+ co-doped GCs with KZnPO4 crystal phase is a promising green up-conversion luminescent material.