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Active Sol-Gel Materials, Fluorescence Spectra, and Lifetimes

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Handbook of Sol-Gel Science and Technology

Abstract

Optical spectroscopy techniques are crucial tool for the assessment of sol-gel-derived materials, structures, and devices of interest in several high-tech and environmental application areas, the major one concerning photonics devices. Sol-gel materials are known since long time as a convenient host for rare earths and luminescent species and have been widely used for the fabrication of photonic confined structures. Their exploitation covers a range of application possibilities and system performance that are not solely ICT oriented but also concern lighting, laser, sensing, energy, environment, and health. The aim of the present paper is to highlight the application of the spectroscopic techniques to the characterization of active sol-gel materials and to present a brief overview of the efforts and progresses made in the area. After a brief summary of the fundamentals of the photoluminescence properties and of the measurement techniques, some specific arguments are discussed. The effect of oxydril group on the luminescence quenching in rare-earth-doped materials is discussed paying attention to the matrix solubility and energy-transfer mechanics. At this regard, the upconversion dynamics in erbium-activated systems is exhaustively presented. The role of europium as a structural probe and the spectroscopic techniques of site-selection spectroscopy, crucial in the assessment of sol-gel materials, are discussed looking at several experimental results. 1-D microcavities are considered as well as the effect of the presence of the cavity on the emission features of the sample and in particular on the multimodal laser action. Sol-gel technology is largely employed to develop glass-ceramics that constitute a class of nanocomposite materials which offer specific characteristics of capital importance in photonics. As tutorial examples, we mention two binary systems that have been largely investigated during the last 10 years, i.e., SiO2–SnO2 and SiO2–HfO2 glass-ceramics waveguides activated by rare-earth ions. Finally, the paragraph of this chapter is devoted to the luminescence spectroscopy in rare-earth-activated micro- and nanospheres where whispering gallery modes microresonators and monodisperse colloidal spheres are deeply discussed.

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Acknowledgment

This research was performed in the framework of the COST MP1401 “Advanced Fibre Laser and Coherent Source as Tools for Society, Manufacturing and Lifescience” (2014–2018), PAS-CNR (2014–2016), and PLANS – Centro Fermi projects. The authors are very grateful to all the colleagues who have collaborated to the research activities, in particular to C. Armellini (IFN-CNR & FBK), S. Berneschi (IFAC-CNR), Bhaktha B.N. (Indian Institute of Technology), B. Boulard (Université du Maine), A. Carpentiero (IFN-CNR), C. Duverger (Université du Maine), A. Martucci (University of Padova), M. Meneghetti (University of Trento), G. Nunzi Conti (IFAC-CNR), S. Pelli (IFAC-CNR), F. Prudenzano (Politecnico di Bari), D. Ristic (Ruder Boskovic Institute), F. Scotognella (Politecnico Milano), Thi Ngoc Lam Tran (IFN-CNR & Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education), S. Turrell (University of Lille), A. Vaccari (FBK), S. Varas (IFN-CNR), I. Vasilchenko, D. Zonta (University of Trento and University of Strathclyde and IFN-CNR), and L. Zur (Centro Fermi & IFN-CNR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research PAS, Okolna St. 2, 50-422, Wroclaw, Poland

    Anna Lukowiak

  2. IFN-CNR CSMFO Lab, and FBK Photonics Unit, Via alla Cascata 56/C Povo, 38123, Trento, Italy

    Alessandro Chiasera, Andrea Chiappini & Maurizio Ferrari

  3. Centro di Studi e Ricerche “Enrico Fermi”, Piazza del Viminale 1, 00184, Rome, Italy

    Giancarlo C. Righini & Maurizio Ferrari

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  1. Anna Lukowiak
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  2. Alessandro Chiasera
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  4. Giancarlo C. Righini
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  5. Maurizio Ferrari
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Correspondence to Anna Lukowiak .

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  1. Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA

    Lisa Klein

  2. Madrid, Spain

    Mario Aparicio

  3. City University of New York, New York, USA

    Andrei Jitianu

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Lukowiak, A., Chiasera, A., Chiappini, A., Righini, G.C., Ferrari, M. (2016). Active Sol-Gel Materials, Fluorescence Spectra, and Lifetimes. In: Klein, L., Aparicio, M., Jitianu, A. (eds) Handbook of Sol-Gel Science and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19454-7_48-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19454-7_48-1

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