Effect of Mn2+ ions on the enhancement upconversion emission and energy transfer of Mn2+/Tb3+/Yb3+ tri-doped transparent glass-ceramics

• Effect of Mn2+ on the enhancement UC intensity of Mn–Tb–Yb tri-doped were investigated.
• UC intensity of Tb3+ increased with increase concentration of Mn2+ up to 2.0 mol%.
• ET process from (4T1→6A1) of Mn2+ to 5D4→7FJ(J=6,5,4,3,2,1 and 0) of Tb3+ was discussed.

The effect of Mn2+ on the enhancement upconversion (UC) emission and energy transfer of Mn2+/Tb3+/Yb3+ tri-doped SiO2–AlF3–BaF2–TiO2–LaF3 transparent glass-ceramics under excitation 980 nm LD were successfully investigated. The UC emission intensity bands centered at 493, 548, 593 and 622 nm corresponding to (5D4→7FJ(J=6, 5, 4 and 3)) transitions of Tb3+ were significantly increased with the increase of the Mn2+ concentrations and reaches its maximum at 2.0 mol%, then decreases due to the self-quenching effect. Particularly, the UC emission intensity bands centered at 656 nm (5D4→7FJ(J=2, 1 and 0)) of Tb3+ was strongly increased about 15-fold with the increase of Mn2+ concentration up to 2.0 mol%. The upconversion mechanism and the energy transfer processes from (4T1→6A1) transition of Mn2+ to 5D4→7FJ(J=6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and 0) transitions of Tb3+ were discussed.