Structural and optical investigations of Nd3+doped Y2O3-SiO2 nanopowder

The optical absorption spectrum has been observed in the 200-600 nm range. The absorption spectrum of Nd3+ doped Y2O3-SiO2 powder depicts absorption edge in ultra-violet region (310 nm) with prominent peaks of neodymium ion (808 nm) in IR region. The band edge absorption wavelength has been used to estimate the band-gap energy of the prepared nanocomposite by Tauc's plot. The emission spectrum has been obtained using two different excitation wavelength (λex = 310 & 808 nm) in UV and NIR regions, respectively. Using λex = 310 nm, strong emission bands have observed in 500-600 nm correspond to Si-O/Y-O or may be due to composite formation. However, the photoluminescence emission corresponding to λex = 808 nm have been centered at 890, 1042 and 1275 nm was attributed to neodymium ion. The structural and optical investigations of Nd3+ doped Y2O3:SiO2 is of basic importance for better utilization of such nanopowder in the fabrication of photonic devices, catalytic systems, solid state lasers, opto-and micro-electronics, nanophosphours and optical fiber amplifiers etc.