Influence of upconversion luminescence modification on near infrared luminescence and cooperative energy transfer in the YbPO4:Er3+, Nb3+/Er3+inverse opals excited at 980 or 808 nm

The photoluminescence modification of rare earth ions base on the photonic band gap engineering was extensively reported. In this work, the effect of up-converting luminescence suppression of Er3+ on the near infrared luminescence and cooperative energy transfer from Er3+ to Yb3+ was investigated in the YbPO4 inverse opals single-doped with Er3+ and co-doped with Nd3+ and Er3+. For the YbPO4:Er3+ inverse opals, when the photonic band gap is overlapped with the green or red up-converting luminescence of Er3+, the green or red up-converting luminescence of Er3+ was suppressed in the YbPO4:Er3+ inverse opals upon the 980 nm excitation, respectively. It is significative that the enhancement of near infrared luminescence of Er3+ was observed, which is attributed to the electron redistribution in the excited energy levels caused by the upconversion luminescence suppression in the YbPO4:Er3+ inverse opals. For the YbPO4:Nd3+,Er3+ inverse opals, the green upconversion and near infrared luminescence of Er3+ and the near infrared luminescence of Yb3+ were observed excited at 808 nm. The near infrared luminescence enhancement of Yb3+ was obtained due to the cooperative energy transfer enhancement from Er3+ to Yb3+ caused by the green upconversion luminescence suppression. The result is helpful to learn the relationship between upconversion and infrared luminescence in rare earth ions doped materials.