Suppression of second-order cooperative up-conversion in Er/Yb silicate glass

This paper reports the efforts of suppressing Er ion’s second-order cooperative up-conversion (CUC). Er/Yb and Er/Y silicate glass waveguides were fabricated, which have same structure, similar Er concentration and peak emission cross-section. Under same 1480 nm pump power, Er/Yb silicate glass shows 4.7 times weaker visible up-conversion luminescence and four times stronger infrared luminescence than Er/Y silicate glass. Through analyzing the physical mechanism, we found that the energy back transfer from Er to Yb plays a significant role on the luminescence difference, which affects and further suppresses the second-order CUC process in Er/Yb co-doped materials.

► Material composition, photoluminescence property and Er emission cross-section of Er/Y and Er/Yb silicates were studied.
► Suppression of second-order cooperative up-conversion (CUC) was studied.
► To analyze the origin of the suppressed CUC, a physical mechanism was given.