Effects of Ce on the spectroscopic properties of transparent phosphate glass ceramics co-doped with Er/Yb

We have prepared Er³⁺/Yb³⁺ co-doped transparent phosphate glass ceramics by the high-temperature melting technique, and demonstrated the influence of energy acceptors Ce³⁺ ions on the up-conversion and 1.54 μm emission properties of Er³⁺. The energy transfer mechanism is discussed based on the energy matching and the energy level structure. The phonon-assisted energy transfer between Er³⁺ and Ce³⁺ favors population feeding from the ⁴I_11/2 to the ⁴I_13/2 level, and therefore drastically decreases the up-conversion emission intensity of Er³⁺. Meanwhile, 1.54 μm fluorescence enhances greatly with the introduction of Ce³⁺ ions at the proper concentration.