Published May 7, 2014 | Version v1
Journal article

Resonant indirect excitation of Gd3+ in AlN thin films

  • 1. Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai, Nada, Kobe 657-8501 (Japan)
  • 2. YUMEX INC., 400 Itoda, Yumesaki, Himeji, Hyogo 671-2114 (Japan)
  • 3. Hyogo Prefectural Institute of Technology, 3-1-12 Yukihira, Suma, Kobe 654-0037 (Japan)

Description

We studied the efficient indirect excitation of Gd3+ ions in AlN thin films. C-axis oriented polycrystalline thin films of Al0.997Gd0.003N/AlN were grown on fused silica substrates using a reactive radio-frequency magnetron sputtering technique. The intra-orbital electron transition in Gd3+ showed a narrow luminescence line at 3.9 eV. The photoluminescence (PL) excitation (PLE) spectrum exhibited a peak originating from efficient indirect energy transfer from the band edge of AlN to Gd3+ ions. The PLE peak shifted and the PL intensity showed a dramatic change when the AlN band gap was varied by changing the temperature. Energy scanning performed by changing the band-gap energy of AlN with temperature revealed several resonant channels of energy transfer into the higher excited states of Gd3+

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Journal of Applied Physics
Journal Volume
115
Journal Issue
17
Journal Page Range
p. 173508-173508.6
ISSN
0021-8979
CODEN
JAPIAU

Optional Information

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