Glassy and nanocrystalline photonic materials and structures by sol–gel

Erbium-doped photonic materials and structures have been prepared by sol-gel, in the form of silica-hafnia based optical planar waveguides and 1-D photonic bandgap structures consisting of alternating silica and titania layers. The Er 3+ ions were found to be sensitive probes of the waveguide glass matrix structure, especially when hafnium-containing nanocrystallites were present, which narrowed and resolved different Stark components in the photoluminescence peaks. In 1-D Fabry-Perot microcavities, on the other hand, efficient energy transfer was observed from Yb 3+ to Er 3+ ions when these were present simultaneously in the same defect layer, but not when the two types of ions were isolated in separate defect layers of coupled microcavities.