Photoluminescence characterisation of Er3+/Yb3+ co-implanted alumina (Al2O3) thin films and sapphire crystals

Successful incorporation both erbium and ytterbium in alumina by ion implantation is reported. Some evidence for indirect pumping of erbium through the transfer of energy from ytterbium has been observed. Both plasma-enhanced CVD deposited alumina thin films and sapphire crystals were employed as substrates, Yb/sup 3+/ and Er/sup 3+/ concentrations ranged from 2.4 at.%, to 8 at.% and from 0.4 at.% to 0.8 at.%, respectively. The samples show strong, broad, room-temperature photoluminescence at /spl lambda/=1.53 /spl mu/m corresponding to the intra-4f transitions between the /sup 4/I/sub 13/2/ (first excited) and the /sup 4/I/sub 15/2/ (ground) state of Er/sup 3+/. The full width at half maximum of the emission spectrum is as high as 67 nm for the Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ thin films, for the sapphire crystals it is 45 nm. The fluorescence lifetime of the samples has been measured to be as high as 4.2 ms at 50 mW pump power.

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