Modulating the Photophysical Properties of Erbium Oxide Single Crystal Thin Films through Ion Irradiation Induced Defects

Abstract

An unanticipated defect-related enhancement is observed in the intensity of laser induced photoluminescence arising from certain Er3+ optical transitions in single-crystal Er2O3 thin films as a function of temperature and defect concentration. These results are significant in the context of fundamental physics, and in addition has potential quantum information science applications. Based on these experimental measurements, a semiquantitative explanation is presented which treats the defect related variation in measured photoluminescence intensity in terms of the erbium ion occupation at crystal symmetry sites, transition rates and branching ratios in the host lattice.