Title: Erbium activated monolith silica-phosphate glasses planar waveguide and up-conversion mechanism

Authors: I.K. Battisha, M.A. Salem, A.M.S. Nahrawy, Y. Badr, B. Elouady, M. Kamal

Addresses: National Research Center (NRC), Department of Solid State Physics, Cairo, Egypt. ' National Research Center (NRC), Department of Solid State Physics, Cairo, Egypt. ' National Research Center (NRC), Department of Solid State Physics, Cairo, Egypt. ' National Institute of Laser Enhancement Sciences (NILES), Cairo University, Egypt. ' Universite de la Roche Pole Sciences et Technologies, Lab. d'Elaboration, Analyse Chimique et Ing. des Mate., France. ' Physics Department, El Manssoura University, Egypt

Abstract: The structure of 3% of Er⁺³, Yb⁺³ ions doped silica-phosphate of two different concentrations 5 and 10% phosphate (P), in the form of thin film and monolith materials were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). The types of structural information obtainable are compared in detail. The structural study revealed that the crystallite sizes of monolith silica-phosphate were about 19 and 17.6 nm sintered at 900 and 500°C. The coarse and fine microstructure of monolith prepared samples was depicted by transmission electron microscope (TEM), which revealed the presence of nano-structure scale in the prepared samples, confirming the data obtained from the XRD. The silica-phosphate doped with 3% of Er⁺³ and Yb⁺³ ions waveguides and its cooperative up-conversion were characterised by photoluminescence spectroscopy. Photoluminescence spectroscopy has demonstrated the embedding of Er³⁺ and Yb³⁺ ions in the nanocrystals, He-Cd and laser diodes were used for both mechanisms, respectively.

Keywords: sol-gel; thin films; monolith materials; photoluminescence; waveguide; X-ray diffraction; XRD; SEM; transmission electron microscopy; TEM; erbium; silica-phosphate glass; microstructure; nanocrystals; nanomaterials; nanotechnology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNBM.2009.027713

International Journal of Nano and Biomaterials, 2009 Vol.2 No.1/2/3/4/5, pp.191 - 203

Published online: 08 Aug 2009 *

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