Synthesis, characterisation and applications of iron oxide nanoparticles

Abstract: Further increase of erbium concentrations in Er-doped amplifiers and lasers is needed for the design of efficient, reliable, compact and cost-effective components for telecommunications and other photonic applications. However, this is hindered by Er concentration dependent loss mechanism known as upconversion. The upconversion arises due to non-radiative energy transfer (ET) interactions (migration and energy-transfer upconversion) among the Er ions exited to the metastable level that is used for amplification. The upconversion deteriorates the conversion efficiency of Er doped gain medium and may even totally quench the gain. The upconversion can be significantly intensified if the Er distribution in glass is non-uniform, which can be minimized by optimizing the fabrication process and the glass composition. The optimization requires detailed characterization techniques capable to distinguish between the effects caused by the uniformly distributed ions (homogeneous upconversion, HUC) and non-homogeneously distributed ions (pair induced quenching, PIQ)The thesis deals with rigorous statistical modeling of the HUC and development of experimental methods that can provide accurate and detailed data about the upconversion, which are needed for the characterization of the upconversion.The presented model interprets the homogenous upconversion as an interplay of ET interactions between randomly distributed Er ions, which is affected by stimulated emission/absorption of the radiation propagating in the medium. The model correspondingly uses the ET interactions parameters as the main modeling parameters.The presented analytical model is verified by Monte-Carlo simulations. It explains strongly non-quadratic character of the upconversion observed in experiments and variety of the associated effects. The model is applicable to the interpretation of the upconversion measurements in various experimental conditions, which facilitates the upconversion characterization. The thesis also presents an advanced experimental method for accurate and detailed characterization of the upconversion in both continues-wave pumping conditions and during the decay of Er population inversion. Using the method the upconversion modeling is experimentally verified by correlating the measurements results with the modeling predictions in the whole range of the practical Er doping levels. This also allows to estimate the parameters for the ET interactions in silica. Finally, it is shown that the presented method can serve as a basis for discrimination of HUC and PIQ effects, which is crucial for optimizing the fabrication process and the glass composition.