Plasmon-enhanced luminescence of YAG: Yb, Er nanopowders by Ag nanoparticles embedded in silicate glass

Abstract Solid-state field-assisted diffusion was used to prepare Ag nano-composite silicate glass. After positive diffusion process, small Ag atoms clusters were formed in the slides. The Ag atom clusters could aggregate into Ag nanoparticles (NPs) with bigger size after subsequent reverse diffusion process. YAG: Yb, Er nanopowders were screen-printed on the glass slides after positive and reverse diffusion, respectively, for up-conversion luminescence measurement. Almost no luminescence enhancement was observed for the slide after positive diffusion. Whereas, obvious enhancement was obtained for the slide after reverse diffusion, and the enhancement factor could reach about 26. The strong enhancement was due to the larger size of Ag NPs. The present work suggested a new promising method to enhance the luminescence of YAG: Yb, Er nanopowders.