Luminescent Thermometry of (Y1–xErx)2O3 Oxides.

A fast and simple method for the synthesis of solid solutions based on erbium-doped yttrium oxide (Y1–xErx)2O3 was developed. The crystal structures of the samples were determined by x-ray diffraction methods. The compounds exhibited greenish-yellow upconversion emission upon IR laser excitation (980 nm). An increase in the erbium concentration in (Y1–xErx)2O3 caused a color change and a growth in the intensity of the upconversion luminescence. The maximum upconversion luminescence intensity was observed for the oxide with x = 0.05. A two-photon excitation mechanism was determined based on the dependence of the emission line intensities associated with 2H11/2/4S3/2 → 4I15/2 and 4F9/2 → 4I15/2 transitions on the pumping power. The absolute and relative sensitivities were calculated from the temperature dependences of the ratio of emission lines corresponding to transitions from thermally coupled excited 2H11/2 and 4S3/2 levels and showed the promise of the oxides as materials for noncontact temperature sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]