Novel insights on energy transfer processes in [Ce4+/Ce3+]-Er3+-doped tellurite glass

Previous works have been already reported on multiphonon-assisted non-resonant energy transfer in Ce3+-Er3+-doped tellurite glasses. However, it is not clear the mechanism of the radiative emission of Er3+ centered at 1530 nm. In this paper, we reported a better understanding of the mechanism of interactions between those two rare-earth ions via a systematic study. For that, we will explore the energy transitions between Ce4+/Ce3+ and Er3+ ions in a tungsten-tellurite glass to both emission (in the near infrared) and upconversion (in the visible) spectrum. Here, Ce4+ and Ce3+ were obtained in an Er3+-doped tellurite glasses via the addition of different concentrations of CeO2 as part of the composition of the samples. Emission spectrum, under a 980 nm excitation, giving rise to a series of interactions between Ce3+↔Er3+ resulting in: (i) a subtle increase of the Er3+ emission intensity in the near-infrared region for 0.1 mol% of CeO2, and then a decrease in the emission for higher CeO2 concentration in both cases without any significant increase in the bandwidth, and (ii) a decrease of the visible upconversion emission intensity with the addition of CeO2. Such interactions are achieved via a coupling yielding and energy transfer from both rare-earth ions.