Steady-state and switch-off behavior of upconversion in Er-doped fibers

By measuring the metastable and the upconverted fluorescence in Er-doped fibers we determine rate of homogeneous upconversion as a function of the population inversion. The results confirm the prediction of our statistical model that at the same population inversion the upconversion rates under the steady-state and the switch-off conditions are different. The larger rate of the steady state upconversion is attributed to the pump enhanced, redistribution of the excitation energy.