Erbium doped gadolinium oxyorthosilicate powder for optical thermometry at the visible and near-infrared

Crystal growth and spectral analysis of erbium (Er3+) doped gadolinium oxyorthosilicate (Gd2SiO5) have been studied especially for use this system as a laser material and optical amplification exploring the luminescence originating from the 4I13/2 -> 4I15/2 transition of Er3+ around 1.5 mu m. However, the study of Er3+:Gd2SiO5 for luminescence thermometry has not been explored yet. In this work, thermometric analysis based on lumines-cence intensity ratio (LIR) technique involving excited state to ground state radiative electronic transitions from thermally coupled levels 2H11/2 and 4S3/2 of Er3+ was investigated and provided maximum absolute temperature sensitivity of -6 x 10-3 K-1 at -500 K. By using thermally coupled Stark sub-levels of states 2H11/2 and 4S3/2, a maximum absolute temperature sensitivity of about the same magnitude (-5 x 10-3 K-1) was attained at a much lower temperature (-110 K). The thermometric analysis based on LIR technique involving the Stark components of the 4I13/2 -> 4I15/2 transition of Er3+ around 1.5 mu m was also investigated and it provided a relative sensitivity of -2 x 10-3 K-1 at 298 K. These results on the Stark components of the luminescence of Er3+:Gd2SiO5 showed that this system may be suitable for temperature sensing in a wide range of temperatures and wavelengths.