Controlled modification of erbium lifetime in silicon dioxide with metallic overlayers

The authors report systematic measurements of the lifetime of the 1.54 mu m transition of erbium implanted at different energies in SiO2 films coated with different metals (titanium and chromium). The lifetime shows a strong reduction (up to a factor of 20) with decreasing distance between the erbium and the metal overlay. Their experiments combined with rigorous theoretical modeling demonstrate that a high degree of control over the radiative properties of erbium can be achieved in erbium-implanted materials in a wide range of implantation energies. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.