Spectroscopic properties of Er/Nd co-doped yttrium lanthanum oxide transparent ceramics pumped at 980 nm

Abstract (Er 0.01 Nd x Y 0.89-x La 0.1 ) 2 O 3 (x = 0, 0.001, 0.002, 0.005, 0.01) transparent ceramics were prepared by conventional ceramic processing. The Nd 3+ content dependencies of mid-infrared, near infrared and up-conversion emission of Er 3+ pumped at 980 nm were fully presented. Mechanism of energy transfer between Er 3+ and Nd 3+ was also demonstrated. The results showed that co-doping 0.1 at% Nd 3+ into 1 at% Er 3+ doped yttrium lanthanum oxide transparent ceramic enhanced the 2.7 μm emission significantly and meanwhile suppressed the 1.5 μm emission effectively which indicated an improvement in population inversion between Er: 4 I 11/2 and Er: 4 I 13/2 . Moreover, green up-conversion emission of Er 3+ ion also showed a great improvement by co-doping 0.1 at% Nd 3+ . Those great results were attributed to energy recycle from Er: 4 I 13/2 to Er: 4 I 11/2 . The energy recycle was mainly built by the two energy transfer between Er 3+ and Nd 3+ (one is from Er to Nd, another is in opposite way). So, Er/Nd co-doped yttrium lanthanum oxide transparent ceramic with Nd in low concentration can be considered as a promising laser material for ∼3 μm and up-conversion laser application.