Influence of Cr 3+ on yellowish‐green UC emission and energy transfer of Er 3+ /Cr 3+ /Yb 3+ tri‐doped zinc silicate glasses

Abstract In this paper, we study the influence of Cr 3+ on yellowish‐green upconversion (UC) emission and the energy transfer (ET) of Er 3+ /Cr 3+ /Yb 3+ tri‐doped in SiO 2 –ZnO–Na 2 O–La 2 O 3 (SZNL) zinc silicate glasses under excitation of the 980 nm laser diode (LD). The influence of Cr 3+ on enhancing the red UC emission of Er 3+ /Cr 3+ /Yb 3+ tri‐doped in SiO 2 –ZnO–Na 2 O–La 2 O 3 zinc silicate glasses under the excitation of 980nm LD was also investigated. The ET processes between Yb 3+ , Cr 3+, and Er 3+ , together with the combination of Yb 3+ ‐Cr 3+ ‐Er 3+ , which led to the green UC emission intensity of Er 3+ /Cr 3+ /Yb 3+ tri‐doped in SiO 2 –ZnO–Na 2 O–La 2 O 3 zinc silicate glasses bands centered at ~546 nm have been significantly enhanced. By increasing the concentration of Cr 3+ from 0 up to 5 mol.%, we can locate the Commission Internationale de l'éclairage (CIE) 1931 (x; y) chromaticity coordinates for UC emissions of Er 3+ /Cr 3+ /Yb 3+ tri‐doped in the central position of the yellowish‐green color region of CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram. Besides, the ET processes between the Yb 3+ , Cr 3+ , and Er 3+ are also proposed and discussed.