Preparation of Er-doped Yb3(Al, Fe)5O12 garnets

Abstract

This work focuses on mixed YbAG/YbIG garnet in a progressive substitution Al/Fe, where aluminium and iron occupy the tetrahedral or octahedral cation sites. In addition to it, the prepared garnet samples were doped with erbium that can profit from ytterbium-based matrix increasing so its absorption cross section. Bulk samples of Er-doped ytterbium - aluminium garnet (Yb2.94Er0.06Al5-xFe x O12; x = 0-5) were prepared by a sol-gel method based on Pechini process with citric acid and ethyleneglycol as polyesterification agents. The annealing had to be carried out in oxygen atmosphere in order to stabilize FeIII in the phase equilibrium. Photoluminescence in the range of 1450-1650 nm was measured and the influence of iron doping on erbium luminescence properties was established.