Enhanced optical properties of TeO2-PbO-PbCl2-Er2o3-AuCl3 glass

Abstract

Rare earths (RE) doped inorganic glasses are attractive due to their excellent optical performance. Light energy up-conversion of such glass is the key issue. Nanoparticles (NPs) dispersed up-converted (UC) glasses seem to be the ideal candidates in terms of both efficiency and large area coverage provided the absorption cross-section be enhanced. The glasses containing gold NPs doped with optimum concentration of RE ions are of particular interest to us. We report the influence of embedded gold NPs on the luminescence and absorbance characteristics of erbium (Er3+) ions doped tellurite glass prepared by melt-quenching method. The absorption and emission spectra displays several prominent peaks corresponding to the transitions from the ground state to the excited states of Er3+ ion. The observed efficient enhancement of up-conversion emissions and absorbance in the entire visible region is attributed to strong localized electric field in vicinity of NPs. Improvements of radiative emissions suggests that the proposed glasses are potential for the development of solid state lasers, color displays and nanophotonic devices.