White light emission in Tm3+/Er3+/Yb3+ tri-doped Y2O3 transparent ceramic

Abstract Tm 3+ /Er 3+ /Yb 3+ triply doped Y 2 O 3 transparent ceramics were fabricated by solid state reaction and characterized from the point of view of white light upconversion luminescence. All the samples exhibited high transparency not only in near-infrared band but also in visible region. Strong red (Er 3+ : 4 F 9/2  →  4 I 15/2 ), green (Er 3+ : 2 H 11/2 , 4 S 3/2  →  4 I 15/2 ) and blue (Tm 3+ : 1 G 4  →  3 H 6 ) upconversion emissions have been observed under 980 nm excitation at room temperature. By varying the concentration of Er 3+ ion, various colors of upconversion luminescence (pure blue, bluish green, pure green and yellowish green), including white light with CIE- X  = 0.295 and CIE- Y  = 0.312, can be easily achieved.