Evidences of Rare Earth Ion Aggregates in a Sol−Gel Silica Matrix:  The Case of Cerium and Gadolinium

The development of efficient luminescent systems, such as microcavities, solid state lasers, integrated optical amplifiers, optical sensors is the main topic in glass photonics. The building blocks of these systems are glass-ceramics activated by rare earth ions because they exhibit specific morphologic, structural and spectroscopic properties. Among various materials that could be used as nanocrystals to be imbedded in silica matrix, tin dioxide presents some interesting peculiarities, e.g. the presence of tin dioxide nanocrystals allows increase in both solubility and emission of rare earth ions. Here, we focus our attention on Er3+ - doped silica – tin dioxide photonic glass-ceramics fabricated by sol-gel route. Although the SiO2-SnO2:Er3+ could be fabricated in different geometrical systems: thin films, monoliths and planar waveguides we herein limit ourselves to the monoliths. The effective role of tin dioxide as luminescence sensitizer for Er3+ ions is confirmed by spectroscopic measurements and detailed fabrication protocols are discussed.

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Luminescence properties of the ternary rare earth complexes with β-diketones and 1,10-phenanthroline incorporated in silica matrix by a sol-gel method

Materials Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.1016/s0254-0584(97)80274-x ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 51 (1) ◽

pp. 92-96 ◽

Cited By ~ 65

Author(s):

Bing Yan ◽

Hong-jie Zhang ◽

Shu-bin Wang ◽

Jia-zuan Ni

Keyword(s):

Rare Earth ◽

Sol Gel ◽

Silica Matrix ◽

Rare Earth Complexes ◽

Luminescence Properties ◽

Gel Method ◽

Sol Gel Method

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Sol-Gel Elaboration and Optical Features of Eu3+-Doped CdS Nanocrystals in SiO2

Materials Science Forum ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.555.389 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 555 ◽

pp. 389-393 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

B. Julián ◽

J. Planelles ◽

E. Cordoncillo ◽

P. Escribano ◽

C. Sanchez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sol Gel ◽

Silica Matrix ◽

Cds Nanoparticles ◽

Rare Earth Ion ◽

Sio2 Matrix ◽

Chemical Homogeneity ◽

Synthesis Conditions ◽

Cds Nanocrystals ◽

Back Transfer

In this work, Eu3+-doped CdS nanocrystals embedded in a SiO2 matrix were synthesised by a sol-gel method since this method confers a great chemical homogeneity, and allows in-situ generation and controlled growth of CdS nanocrystals within the silica glass. The influence of the sol-gel conditions on the Eu3+ optical response has been investigated. The synthesis conditions can be varied to modify the structure of the material, and the dispersion of the rare earth ion, within the silica matrix. From the optical analysis an energy transfer appears from CdS nanoparticles to Eu3+ ions but also a back transfer Eu3+ to CdS nanoparticles is evidenced.

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Defect Luminescence of Yag Nanopowders and Crystals

Latvian Journal of Physics and Technical Sciences ◽

10.2478/v10047-012-0022-4 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 49 (4) ◽

pp. 54-60 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

L. Grigorjeva ◽

D. Jankoviča ◽

K. Smits ◽

D. Millers ◽

S. Zazubovich

Keyword(s):

Rare Earth ◽

Luminescence Band ◽

Sol Gel ◽

Stokes Shift ◽

Combustion Method ◽

Low Temperature Combustion ◽

Rare Earth Ion ◽

Temperature Combustion ◽

Luminescence Characteristics ◽

Defect Luminescence

Defect Luminescence of Yag Nanopowders and Crystals Undoped and rare-earth-ion-doped Y3Al5O12 (YAG) nanopowders are prepared by the sol-gel low-temperature combustion method. The luminescence characteristics of the YAG, YAG: Ce, YAG:Pr, and YAG: Ce/Pr nanopowders are compared with those of the single crystals. The luminescence band peaking around 3.1 eV is complex and excited at about 3.6 eV, 3.9 eV and 4.3 eV. The 3.1 eV emission was peculiar to all the samples studied. The Stokes shift of this band is ~0.5 eV. The decay time of the ~3.1 eV emission at 80 K is ~14 ns and the slower decay (afterglow) components are practically absent. The 3.1 eV luminescence was suggested to arise from different intrinsic lattice defects.

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Luminescence properties of rare-earth (Eu3+ and Tb3+) complexes with paraaminobenzoic acid and 1,10-phenanthroline incorporated into a silica matrix by sol-gel method

Materials Research Bulletin ◽

10.1016/s0025-5408(98)00133-0 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 33 (10) ◽

pp. 1517-1525 ◽

Cited By ~ 70

Author(s):

B Yan ◽

H Zhang ◽

S Wang ◽

J Ni

Keyword(s):

Rare Earth ◽

Sol Gel ◽

Silica Matrix ◽

Luminescence Properties ◽

Gel Method ◽

Sol Gel Method ◽

Paraaminobenzoic Acid

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Rare-earth ion distribution in sol–gel glasses co-doped with Al3+

Journal of Luminescence ◽

10.1016/j.jlumin.2007.11.049 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 128 (5-6) ◽

pp. 931-933 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

A.J. Silversmith ◽

N.T.T. Nguyen ◽

B.W. Sullivan ◽

D.M. Boye ◽

C. Ortiz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Rare Earth ◽

Sol Gel ◽

Ion Distribution ◽

Rare Earth Ion ◽

Gel Glasses ◽

Co Doped

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Local symmetry and Z-scan analysis of ZnSe/Eu3+ doped sol–gel silica hosts

Canadian Journal of Physics ◽

10.1139/p10-030 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 88 (7) ◽

pp. 493-500 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Siby Mathew ◽

K. V. Arun Kumar ◽

C. Sudarsanakumar ◽

V. P.N. Nampoori ◽

N. V. Unnikrishnan

Keyword(s):

Rare Earth ◽

Sol Gel ◽

Glass Network ◽

Local Symmetry ◽

Wide Distribution ◽

Rare Earth Ions ◽

Saturable Absorption ◽

Rare Earth Ion ◽

Enhanced Absorption ◽

The Rare Earth

Vibrational state side-band spectral analysis of silica matrices, doped with ZnSe/Eu3+ ions, associated with the excitation transition 7F0→5D2 is used to analyze the local asymmetry of the rare earth ions in the glass host. The large inhomogeneous linewidth for the ZnSe co-doped samples indicates the wide distribution of the Eu3+ ions in the matrix and is related to the flexibility of the local glass network. The fluorescence spectra reveal that the intensity of the characteristic emission of europium increases considerably in the presence of ZnSe particles. This phenomenon can be explained by the energy transfer resulting from electron–hole recombination in the ZnSe to the rare earth ion. Nonlinear optical absorption of the sample is also investigated at a wavelength of 532 nm, using open aperture Z-scan technique. The sample exhibits reversible saturable absorption (RSA), which is found to depend on excitation fluence. RSA is due to the enhanced absorption resulting from the electron dynamics in nano-crystallites.

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