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Optical spectroscopic properties of Tm3+-doped 60TeO2−10GeO2−10K2O−10Li2O−10Nb2O5 glass are reported. The absorption spectra were obtained and radiative parameters were determined using the Judd–Ofelt theory. Characteristics of excited states were studied in two sets of experiments. Excitation at 360 nm originates a relatively narrow band emission at 450 nm attributed to transition 1D2→3F4 of the Tm3+ ion with photon energy larger than the band-gap energy of the glass matrix. Excitation at 655 nm originates a frequency upconverted emission at 450 nm (1D2→3F4) and emission at 790 nm (3H4→3H6). The radiative lifetimes of levels 1D2 and 3H4 were measured and the differences between their experimental values and the theoretical predictions are understood as due to the contribution of energy transfer among Tm3+ ions.

We investigated near-infrared-to-blue upconversion from thulium (Tm3+) doped in tellurite glasses upon continuous wave excitation near 800 nm. We observed an enhancement of over two orders of magnitude of the upconverted emission at ∼480 nm when neodymium (Nd3+) ions were codoped with Tm3+ ions. For comparison, using a Tm3+:Nd3+ codoped fluorozirconate glass as a reference material we observed a 40-fold enhancement of the blue emission. Analysis of the blue emission for samples with different doping levels of Nd3+ ions showed that energy transfer between Nd3+ and Tm3+ is the mechanism responsible for the enhancement in upconversion.

Efficient energy upconversion of cw radiation at 1.064 μm into blue, red, and near infrared emission in Tm3+-doped Yb3+-sensitized 60TeO2-10GeO2-10K2O-10Li2O-10Nb2O5 glasses is reported. Intense blue upconversion luminescence at 485 nm corresponding to the Tm3+ 1G4→3H6 transition with a measured absolute power of 0.1 μW for 800 mW excitation power at room temperature is observed. The experimental results also revealed a sevenfold enhancement in the upconversion efficiency when the sample was heated from room temperature to 235 °C yielding 0.7 μW of blue absolute fluorescence power for 800 mW pump power. High brightness emission around 800 nm (3F4→3H6) in addition to a less intense 655 nm (1G4→3H4 and 3F2,3→3H6) fluorescence is also recorded. The energy upconversion excitation mechanism for thulium emitting levels is assigned to multiphonon-assisted anti-Stokes excitation of the ytterbium-sensitizer followed by multiphonon-assisted sequential energy-transfer processes.