Multicolor upconversion emission and energy transfer mechanism in Er3+/Tm3+/Yb3+ codoped tellurite glasses

•Er3+/Tm3+/Yb3+ codoped tellurite glasses were prepared using melt-quenching method.•The multicolor emission, energy transfer, thermal stability and structure were investigated.•Multicolor emission was realized by adjusting doped rare-earth ions and concentration.•The quantitative study of energy transfer mechanism was presented.•The thermal stability of glass samples increased with rare-earth doped concentration.

A novel Er3+, Tm3+ and Yb3+ codoped tellurite glasses with composition of TeO2-Bi2O3-ZnO-Na2O was prepared by conventional melt-quenching technique to realize the multicolor upconversion (UC) emissions. The absorption spectrum, UC emission spectrum, Raman spectrum, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) curves were measured to characterize the prepared glass samples. Under the excitation of 980 nm laser diode (LD), bright multicolor luminescence composed of red, green and/or blue UC emissions corresponding to the transitions 4F9/2→4I15/2, 2H11/2(4S3/2)→4I15/2 of Er3+ and 1G4→3H6 of Tm3+ were observed in the Er3+/Yb3+, Tm3+/Yb3+ and Er3+/Tm3+/Yb3+ codoped glass samples, which were mainly attributed to the successive energy transfers from Yb3+ to Er3+ and Tm3+, respectively. The energy transfer mechanisms from the Yb3+:2F5/2 level to Er3+:4I11/2 and Tm3+:3H5 levels were further investigated by quantitatively calculating the energy transfer micro-parameters and phonon contribution ratios. Meanwhile, the difference (ΔT=Tx−Tg) between the glass crystallization onset temperature (Tx) and the transition temperature (Tg) which increase slightly with rare-earth (RE) doped concentration, was larger than 140 °C for all glass samples. Furthermore, the amorphous nature of glass structure was demonstrated by the measured XRD curves. The excellent thermal stability and multicolor luminescent characteristic indicate that the present investigated Er3+/Tm3+/Yb3+ codoped tellurite glasses could be used in the fields of solid state multicolor displays and other luminescent devices.