Concentration effect of the near-infrared quantum cutting of 1788-nm luminescence of Tm3+ ion in (Y1–x Tmx)3Al5O12 powder phosphor.

In the present paper, the concentration effect of near-infrared quantum cutting of Tm3+ ion in (Y1–xTmx)3Al5O12 powder phosphor is studied by means of experiments and calculations. In addition, the absorption spectra, visible-to-near-infrared excitation and emission spectra, and fluorescence lifetimes are measured. It is found that (Y1–xTmx)3Al5O12 powder phosphor has a strong four-photon near-infrared quantum cutting luminescence of 1788.0-nm 3F4 → 3H6 fluorescence of Tm3+ ion, when excited by 357.0-nm light. It is also found that the up-limit of the four-photon near-infrared quantum cutting luminescence efficiency of (Y0.700Tm0.300)3Al5O12 powder phosphor is approximately 302.19%. To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first time that a near-infrared quantum cutting efficiency up-limit exceeding 300% has been reported. The results of this manuscript are valuable in aiding the probing of the new generation Ge solar cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]