Efficient energy upconversion emission in Tm3+/Yb3+-codoped TeO2-based optical glasses excited at 1.064 μm

Efficient energy upconversion of cw radiation at 1.064 μm into blue, red, and near infrared emission in Tm3+-doped Yb3+-sensitized 60TeO2-10GeO2-10K2O-10Li2O-10Nb2O5 glasses is reported. Intense blue upconversion luminescence at 485 nm corresponding to the Tm3+ 1G4→3H6 transition with a measured absolute power of 0.1 μW for 800 mW excitation power at room temperature is observed. The experimental results also revealed a sevenfold enhancement in the upconversion efficiency when the sample was heated from room temperature to 235 °C yielding 0.7 μW of blue absolute fluorescence power for 800 mW pump power. High brightness emission around 800 nm (3F4→3H6) in addition to a less intense 655 nm (1G4→3H4 and 3F2,3→3H6) fluorescence is also recorded. The energy upconversion excitation mechanism for thulium emitting levels is assigned to multiphonon-assisted anti-Stokes excitation of the ytterbium-sensitizer followed by multiphonon-assisted sequential energy-transfer processes.