Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol.96, No.12, 3836-3841, 2013
Enhanced 2.0 mu m Emission and Lowered Upconversion Emission in Fluorogermanate Glass-Ceramic Containing LaF3:Ho3+/Yb3+ by Codoping Ce3+ Ions
Intense 2.0m emission of Ho3+ has been achieved through Yb3+ sensitization in fluorogermanate glass-ceramic (GC) containing LaF3 pumped with 980nm laser diode (LD). The observation of concurrent emissions at 538, 650, and 1192nm points to the additional deexcitation routes based on infrared-to-visible upconversion processes and Ho3+:I-5(6) I-5(8) radiative transition. Comparative investigations of photoluminescent spectra and decay curves have indicated the effective role of Ce3+ ions in enhancing the 2.0m fluorescence along with suppressing the occurrence of these concurrent emissions. This would offer a promising approach to develop compact and efficient 2.0-m laser systems.