The photoluminescence of erbium-doped silicon monoxide

Films of silicon monoxide coevaporated with erbium are shown to produce strong room temperature photoluminescence peaked at 1535 nm after annealing at 600 degrees C. Decay measurements show a double exponential function with lifetimes of 0.41 ms and 2.12 ms, suggesting two distinct optically active erbium sites. Photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy between 700 and 860 nm reveals a monotonic increase in photoluminescence intensity towards shorter wavelengths. This result suggests that the transfer of energy from the pump source to the erbium ions is mainly via the recombination of electron-hole pairs (photocarriers) which are created by absorption within the SiO.