Homogeneous broadening effect on temperature dependence of green upconversion luminescence in erbium doped fibers

Abstract

We study the green upconversion luminescence of Er3+ ions in an aluminosilicate optical fiber upon near infrared excitation at 787 nm. The dependence of the upconversion luminescence on temperature has been determined. As temperature drops from room to cryogenic temperatures, the upconversion green emission reaches a maximum around 40 K, and then decreases. A nearly quadratic dependence of the upconversion luminescence with excitation power is found, which is consistent with a sequential stepwise two-photon absorption process. These results have been explained with a semiclassical model that considers the inhomogeneous broadening of the optical transitions due to glass imperfections, and the dependence of the homogeneous linewidth broadening on temperature.