On the concentration dependence of the up-conversion process of Pr3+ doped Li2CaSiO4

This work concerns the concentration dependence of the optical properties of microscale samples according to the solid solution Li2Ca1-2xPrxNaxSiO4 with x = 0.001, 0.002, 0.005, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.07, and 0.1. Phase purity was inspected by using X-ray powder diffraction. In order to figure out concentration dependent similarities and differences of their properties with respect to down- and up-conversion, luminescence spectroscopy for vacuum UV (VUV), X-ray, and blue light excitation were performed. Furthermore, diffuse reflection spectroscopy as well as time dependent luminescence measurements were conducted. It turns out that the concentration quenching of the upconversion lags the down-conversion. In addition, a rise time can be observed in the time dependent measurements of the up-conversion. From these observations, it is concluded that the up-conversion process takes place via an energy transfer process with a very high probability.