LAUSR

Abstract Tb3+/Yb3+ co-doped ZrO2-SiO2 nano-crystallized glasses were prepared by a sol-gel process. The crystal structure and optical properties including down-conversion photoluminescence (or, quantum cutting) of the Tb3+-Yb3+ system with respect to gel heat treatment temperature were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, photoluminescence (PL), and PL decay curves analysis. The energy transfer efficiency from Tb3+ to Yb3+ ions, which converts one photon to two photons with lower energy, increased with heat-treatment temperature. Furthermore, the oxidation state of Tb4+ ions was suspected to influence the emission intensity of Tb3+ and energy conversion efficiency. Thus, a post-treatment reduction was applied to the sample heated at 1100 °C by annealing it at 1100 °C for 1 h under 5%H2/95%N2 reductive atmosphere. Consequently, the thermodynamically generated Tb4+ ions were reduced to a trivalent state, leading to higher energy transfer efficiency.