Optical properties of organic/inorganic nanocomposite sol-gel films containing LaPO4:Er,Yb nanocrystals

The LaPO4:Er,Yb nanocrystals of average particle size about 5–7 nm were prepared from solution-based reaction. The nanocrystals were successfully incorporated into the sol-gel organic/inorganic hybrid matrix up to 30 wt.% without phase separation. The nanocomposite films showed strong luminescence intensity in the near infrared region around 1550 nm after heat treatment below 150 °C. The refractive indices of the composite films were adjustable by controlling both the Zr/Si ratio in the sol-gel hybrid matrices and the contents of the LaPO4:Er,Yb nanocrystals incorporated in the matrices. The propagation loss of the composite films was about 0.5 dB/cm, and that was prone to be increased with increasing the contents of the LaPO4:Er,Yb nanocrystals.