Si nanocrystals as sensitizers for ErPL in SiO2

Sensitization of Er3+ photoluminescence in SiO2 layers by silicon nanocrystals has been investigated under resonant and nonresonant pulsed optical pumping. We observed that the very efficient channel of erbium excitation introduced by the nanocrystals can be saturated when very high pulsed photon flux is used. While this channel is saturated, tuning to the resonant excitation wavelength results in an increase of erbium-related photoluminescence, indicating that direct and indirect excitations can take place simultaneously.