Tunable upconversion in Er-doped orthorhombic lead fluoride compound

Near infrared-visible upconversion in Er³⁺ doped orthorhombic PbF₂ compound is investigated. It is experimentally observed that the red emission intensity increases monotonously with Er³⁺ concentration increase, while the green emission intensity first increases and then decreases. Based on the rate-equation, the energy transfers involved in the upconversion processes have been explored. It is shown that due to the different multipolar nature for the energy transfer processes of ²H_11/2 (⁴S_3/2)+⁴I_15/2→⁴I_9/2+⁴I_13/2 and ⁴I_11/2+⁴I_11/2→⁴F_7/2+⁴I_15/2, the green and red upconversion emissions depend on Er³⁺ concentration in different ways. The theoretical results are in good agreement with the experimental observation. It is shown that the upconverted emission bands can be tuned by controlling Er³⁺ concentration in orthorhombic PbF₂ compound, which has many photonic applications under NIR excitation.