Manipulating the emission intensity and lifetime of NaYF4:Yb3+,Er3+ simultaneously by embedding it into CdS photonic crystals

Photonic crystals (PCs) have long been considered effective for tuning upconversion luminescence due to their photonic band gap (PBG) and the redistribution of density of optical states (DOS). Although the emission intensity can be changed obviously by the PC effect, rarely an obvious lifetime change consistent with theory is observed due to the low refractive index of PS or SiO2 spheres in the commonly used PCs. Herein, CdS/NaYF4:Yb3+,Er3+ composite PCs with a high refractive index contrast are fabricated in one step with upconversion nanoparticles filled inside CdS PCs. When the upconversion emission peak lies at the edge of the PBGs of the composite PCs, a dramatic decrease in lifetime by 28% and 41% is observed for the green and red emissions, respectively. At the same time, obvious emission intensity enhancements are also observed. In contrast, PS PCs with a low refractive index contrast show a slight effect on the lifetime of upconversion luminescence with their emission peak at the edge of the PBGs. Our results agree well with theory and prove that a sufficiently large refractive index contrast is necessary for PCs to dramatically tune the luminescence lifetime and intensity simultaneously.