Zinc Oxide crystals have historically been grown in hydrothermal autoclaves with a basic mineralizer; however, doubts have been raised about the quality of such crystals because they have often exhibited large x-ray rocking curve widths and low photoluminescence (PL) yield with large linewidths. Several ZnO crystals were grown hydrothermally and sliced parallel to the c-plane. This resulted in opposite surfaces (the C + and C -) exhibiting pronounced chemical and mechanical differences. Different surface treatments were investigated and compared by PL both at room temperature and liquid helium temperatures, and by double axis X-ray rocking curve measurements. The high quality of hydrothermally-grown ZnO is substantiated by the narrow rocking curve widths and sharp PL peaks obtained. A critical factor in obtaining these results was found to be surface preparation.
The upconversion of infrared radiation into green and red fluorescence has been studied for Er3+ and Yb3+ ions in BaF2/ThF4 fluoride glass over a wide temperature range and several dopant concentrations. At room temperature an upconversion efficiency of 3.3×10−5 has been obtained for the green emission from the glass with 1 mol % ErF3 and 19 mol % YbF3 pumped by 973-nm radiation with intensity of 16.5 mW/cm2. For an absorbed intensity of 10 W/cm2 the efficiency for green upconversion emission is predicted to be 2%. Radiative transition rates for the excited states of Er3+ were calculated using Judd–Ofelt theory and intensity parameters obtained from measured integrated absorption coefficients. The calculated values of the multiphonon relaxation and the upconversion fluorescence intensity, obtained from the rate equation model of Wright, are discussed in light of the experimental results.
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