Photoluminescence of highly Er-doped silica films and Er-doped gallium arsenide

Abstract Photoluminescence of highly Er-doped silicate glass films prepared by sputter deposition and Er-doped GaAs films grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) was investigated. Er-doped silica glass films show a strong, room-temperature luminescence at 1.54 μm wavelength, corresponding to the 4 I 1 3/2 → 4 I 1 5/2 transition o f Er 3+ (4f), with a fluorescence decay lifetime in the range of 2 ms. Oxygen was found to play an important role in forming optically active erbium ions. The non-radiative Auger-type process in Er-doped GaAs was estimated to be nearly five times that of the energy transfer process from bound excitons to the Er 3+ ions, which subsequently resulted in the Er-related light emission. Temperature-induced quenching of the emission was found to be dominated by transitions with an activation energy of 74 meV.