The photoluminescence of erbium-doped silicon monoxide

Abstract

Films of silicon monoxide coevaporated with erbium are shown to produce strong room temperature photoluminescence peaked at 1535nm after annealing at 600°C. Decay measurements show a double exponential function with lifetimes of 0.41ms and 2.12ms, suggesting two distinct optically active erbium sites. Photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy between 700nm and 860nm reveals a monotonic increase in photoluminescence intensity towards shorter wavelengths. This result suggests that the transfer of energy from the pump source to the erbium ions is mainly via the recombination of electron-hole pairs (photocarriers) which are created by absorption within the SiO.

1st International workshop on Materials for Optoelectronics Sheffield 22-23 Aug (1995)

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