Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics (2019) 30:17424–17431

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-019-02092-4

Dual photoluminescence emission of ­Er3+, ­Yb3+ and ­Er3+/Yb3+ doped

­La3Ga5.5Nb0.5O14 ceramics under UV and IR excitation
N. Marimuthu1 · M. Rathnakumari1 · P. Suresh Kumar1   · R. B. Upadhyay2

Received: 26 April 2019 / Accepted: 22 August 2019 / Published online: 28 August 2019
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019

Abstract
Synthesis of pure and Y ­ b3+, ­Er3+ and E­ r3+/Yb3+ doped L
­ a3Ga5.5Nb0.5O14 (LGN) ceramics by solid state reaction method
and their photoluminescence characteristics are presented. ­Er3+ and ­Er3+/Yb3+doped LGN ceramics emit green light at 523
(2H11/2 → 4I15/2) and 551 (4S3/2 → 4I15/2) nm through down conversion upon UV excitation. E
­ r3+/Yb3+-doped LGN ceramics
also act as upconvertors, by transforming infrared excitation (973 nm) into UV light ( G11/2 → 4I15/2) which is due to three-
4

photo energy transfer process. The emission characteristics confirm that LGN is a superior host material for both up and
down conversions and hence it can be used for light emitting devices and biological applications. The effects of E ­ r3+ and
3+
­Yb doping on the structure, morphology of the prepared ceramics were also studied and discussed.

1 Introduction lattice. The langasite family crystals have been investigated

The upconversion luminescence materials are currently
being investigated because they efficiently convert low
energy (infrared) to high energy (visible/UV radiation) and
may lead to very useful applications in medicine, biology
and wastewater treatment [1, 2]. The upconversion lumi-
nescence materials emit UV when it is excited with vis-
ible or IR. Generally, two-photon processes are essential to
produce UV emission when excited with visible radiation
and n-photon processes (n ≥ 3) are involved for IR pump-
ing, whose efficiency is much lower when compared to vis-
ible pumping. However, for turbid medium which requires
greater penetration depth, IR excitation for UV upconversion
is needed instead [3]. When excited in IR, besides the lumi-
nescence in visible region, the materials doped with erbium
and ytterbium also emit in ultraviolet region. Johnson et al.
observed UV luminescence with IR pumping in materials
­ r3+, ­Ho3+,
doped with trivalent rare-earth (RE) ion such as E
­Yb3+ [4].
Upconversion luminescence materials are hypersensi-
tive to the composition and the crystal structure of the host
* P. Suresh Kumar
suresrath@yahoo.com
1
Materials Research Centre, Velammal Engineering College,
Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600 066, India
2
Space Application Centre, Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO), Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380015, India
extensively in the past. Langasite family materials like (Lan-
gasite-La3Ga5SiO14-LGS, Langanite-La3Ga5.5Nb0.5O14-LGN
and Langatate-La3Ga5.5Ta0.5O14-LGT) are promising for pie-
zoelectric sensors and acousto-electronic applications. Apart
from piezoelectric properties important optical activities of
Langasite family have also been noticed [5].
Partially disordered materials (two different ions shared
one of the crystallographic planes) from Langasite family
possess the advantages of wide range of absorption lines,
suitable of pumping with laser diodes. The Langasite type
materials can be doped with transition metal [11] and rare
earth [5–10].
Langanite materials belongs to trigonal structure which
is having a structural formula—A3BC3D2O14, in which ­La3+
occupies the dodecahedral positions A, the octahedral posi-
tions B are occupied by two dissimilar ions, ­Ga3+ and ­Nb5+.
­Ga3+ occupies the remaining tetrahedral positions C and
D and belongs to symmetry P32 [12, 13]. The rare earth
ions enter the A position. Georgescu et al. observed intense
red luminescence in E ­ u3+ doped LGT, LGS and LGN crys-
tals which suggests it’s suitability as red phosphors [14].
Upconversion luminescence of Er, Yb—codoped nano LGN
powders were observed in [15]. Bright green and red lumi-
nescence in Er, Yb doped LGT ceramics were reported by
Georgescu et al. [5]. Toma et al. found the Solubility limits
of erbium in polycrystalline LGN [16]. Since growth of sin-
gle crystals of LGS materials is an expensive approach, solid
state sintering methods resulting directly in powders would

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be of interest. For certain applications ceramic materials
are preferred since they have more advantages in control
of composition, performance, ease of fabrication and low
preparation cost [17]. Although there are numerous reports
on the luminescence studies of ­RE3+ doped Langasite family
crystals, only few reports are available on the luminescence
studies of LGN ceramics.
In this work, we discuss both up conversion and down
conversion characteristics of pure, Er doped, Yb doped and
Er, Yb codoped LGN ceramics. A detail photoluminescence
(PL) spectroscopic study of RE doped LGN ceramics under
both UV and IR (973 nm) excitation clearly indicate that
they exhibit dual mode luminescence characteristics.
2 Experimental details
2.1 Materials
High purity (Sigma Aldrich, 99.99%) Gallium oxide
­(Ga2O3), Lanthanum oxide (­ La2O3), Niobium oxide (­ Nb2O3),
Erbium oxide ­(Er2O3), and Ytterbium dioxide ­(Yb2O3), were
used as precursors and for binder polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)
(C2H4O)x was used.
2.2 Methods
For preparation of ­L a 3Ga 5.5Nb 0.5O 14 (LGN); Yb:LGN
(3 at%); Er:LGN (1 at%); Er:Yb:LGN (3 at% and 1 at%,
respectively) by controlled reaction in the solid state, high
purity oxides (­ La2O3, ­Ga2O3, ­Er2O3, ­Yb2O3, ­Nb2O5) were
taken in stoichiometric ratios and ­RE3+ ions were added as
substitutional dopant in Lanthanum position. The mixed
precursors were milled for 4 h by using Tungsten carbide
mill along with PVA binder. The mixed powder was then
hard pressed to make pellets of size 10 mm dia. and 3 mm
thick. The pellets were sintered at 1000 °C and 1400 °C
respectively for 12 h and 2 h in air atmosphere. The sin-
tered pellet was allowed to attain room temperature naturally
which gives identical temperature distribution throughout
the sample. This in turn enables improved dopant substitu-
tion and photoluminescence intensity in the product. Finally
a ceramic sample was obtained after cooling which is made
into powder form by grinding.
2.3 Characterization
The formation LGS phase in all the prepared samples was
confirmed by the powder X-ray diffraction analysis using
Rigaku D/max-A X-ray diffractometer in the range of
10°–70° (λ = 1.544 nm) at a scan speed of 0.01°/s at room
temperature. The angle of diffraction 2θ was scanned in the
range 20° to 70°. Pellets of Er and Yb doped LGN powders
of thickness 1 mm and diameter 12 mm were prepared by
using hand operated hydraulic press by applying a pressure
of 10 kgf/cm2. Micro structural images were recorded by
using scanning electron microscopy JEOL make JSM6390.
The existence and composition of La, Ga, Nb, Er, Yb and O
were determined by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy
(EDAX) INCApentaFETx3. The up and down conversion
photoluminescence properties like excitation spectra and
emission spectra were recorded using Jobin–Yvon—Spec-
trofluorometer Fluoromax-4.
3 Results and discussion
3.1 Analysis of XRD patterns
Powder XRD study was used to inspect the phase purity
and crystalline structure of the LGN, Yb:LGN, Er:LGN and
Er:Yb:LGN ceramics. Figure 1a shows the powder XRD
patterns of the prepared ceramics annealed at 1400 °C for
2 h. All the peaks in the X-ray diffraction spectrum of the
undoped and lanthanide doped samples were indexed using
the LGS type structure (JCPDS No: 72-2249) without any
precipitated phase. The sharp peaks of LGN indicate that the
products are well crystallized and that Y­ b3+ and E
­ r3+ doping
in LGN do not alter its Langasite type structure.
A keen observation made over comparing the diffraction
angle with different doping (Fig. 1b) suggests peak shift and
hence change in lattices parameters due to doping of Y ­ b3+
3+
(ionic radii 0.103 nm), E ­ r (ionic radii 0.104 nm) in place
3+
of ­La (ionic radii 0.116 nm). The prominent peaks (2 0
1) and (2 − 1 1) in the measured XRD spectrum (Fig. 1b)
were shift towards the higher 2θ value with dopand of
­RE3+. This is because of ionic radius of ­Yb3+ (0.103 nm)
and ­Er3+ (0.104 nm) are smaller than the ionic radius of
­La3+(0.116  nm) and Er–O and Yb–O bond contraction
would result in decrease in cell parameters ‘a’ and ‘c’ which
is affect the unit cell volumes [18]. Table 1 shows the calcu-
lated cell parameter values from the XRD spectrum which
is confirms the contraction of cell volume with RE dopant.
3.2 HR‑SEM and EDX analysis
The SEM image was taken after the gold sputtering. A
~ 20 nm layer of gold was sputter coated on to the prepared
samples to increase surface conductivity since the prepared
samples are non-conducting. Figure 2 shows the surface
SEM images of prepared LGN, Er:LGN, Yb:LGN and
Er:Yb:LGN samples. The SEM study confirms that the pre-
pared samples are pores free, highly dense which shows that
all the pellets are well sintered. SEM micrographs show that
the grain distributions on the samples are almost uniform at
the surface, which are mostly pseudo-hexagonal shaped with
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17426 Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics (2019) 30:17424–17431

Energy dispersive X-ray analysis was deployed to exam-

ine the chemical compositions of LGN, Er:LGN, Yb:LGN
and Er:Yb:LGN samples by using INCApentaFETx3. The
measured percentage of atomic concentrations of the pre-
sent elements with respect to the mixture ratio is given in
Table 2.

4 Luminance spectra analysis

4.1 Down conversion luminescence

Converting high-energy photons into low-energy photons is

called down conversion (DC). Down conversion process in
­RE3+ involves (i) absorption of high energy photon by host
materials (ii) transferring of the absorbed energy to ­RE3+
ions (iii) emission of low energy photon by relaxation of
­RE3+ ions to ground state. LGN is an outstanding host mate-
rial for DC and it shows strong absorption in the UV region
and capable of energy transfer to rare earth ions [19].
All LGS type materials have same electronic structure
[20]. The valence band of LGN is formed by the Oxygen 2p
states. The lower part of the conduction band is built up of
the Lanthanum 5d states and the upper part is formed by the
Gallium 4p states.
Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6 shows the photoluminescence excita-
tion and emission spectra of LGN, Yb:LGN, Er:LGN and
Er:Yb:LGN samples excited in UV. The excitation spectra
show sharp band edge absorption at 261 and 305 nm for all
the prepared samples. The PL emission spectral signatures
were recorded under excitation at 261 and 305 nm. A broad
emission band centered at ~ 400 nm was observed in all the
samples when excited at 261 and 305 nm. The presence of
high intense broad peak at ~ (390–420 nm) in all samples
with or without RE doping confirms that this band is associ-
Fig. 1  a Comparison between XRD patterns of undoped LGN and ated with stable charge transfer band (CTB) [21]. The peak
LGN with Er, Yb and Er:Yb rare earth doping, b Shifting of peaks (2 position of this band is found to slightly change between 390
0 1) and (2 − 1 1) towards higher 2θ values and 420 nm with RE doping in LGN compared to pure LGN.
Figure  3 shows the emission spectra of pure LGN
Table 1  The calculated Lattice parameter of LGN, Er:LGN, Yb:LGN excited at 261 and 305 nm. A broad emission band cen-
and Er:Yb:LGN ceramics tered at 400 nm is observed in emission spectrum of LGN
Concentration (X) a = b (Å) c (Å) V (Å3) for 261 nm excitation. When LGN sample was excited at
305 nm, the PL intensity of broad emission peak at 400 nm
LGN 8.202 5.126 298.63
was found to be increased compared to 261 nm excitation.
Yb:LGN 8.174 5.104 295.32
These emission bands may be due to the annihilation of self-
Er:LGN 8.188 5.113 298.01
trapped excitons (STE). The excitation threshold (305 nm
Er:Yb:LGN 8.161 5.079 292.94
and 261 nm) of the 400-nm band coincides with the absorp-
tion edge. The observed coincidence of excitation peak and
emission peak shows that this is intrinsic characteristic of
large agglomeration. The average grain sizes of the samples LGN. Since O 2p states built by valence band, it is act as a
are 0.8 μm, 0.9 μm, 0.9 μm and 1.2 μm for LGN, Er:LGN hole is self-trapped on an oxygen ion. This may be due the
Yb:LGN and Er:Yb:LGN samples respectively. strong interaction with phonons. Hence, STE is formed by

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Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics (2019) 30:17424–17431 17427

Fig. 2  SEM images of a LGN,

b Er:LGN, c Yb:LGN and d
Er:Yb:LGN ceramics

Table 2  Atomic concentration of elements for LGN, Er:LGN, Yb:LGN and Er:Yb:LGN ceramics
Atomic % of La Atomic % of Ga Atomic % of Nb Atomic % of O Atomic % of Er Atomic % of Yb

(a) LGN 11.01 18.96 3.50 66.54 0 0

(b) Er:LGN 11.52 21.03 2.89 64.39 0.16 0
(c) Yb:LGN 10.86 20.30 3.30 65.35 0 0.19
(d) Er:Yb:LGN 11.32 18.99 3.57 65.69 0.17 0.27

Fig. 3  Downconversion emission spectrum under UV excitation of Fig. 4  Downconversion emission spectrum under UV excitation of
LGN ­Yb3+ doped LGN

13

17428
Fig. 5  Downconversion emission spectrum under UV excitation of
­Er3+ doped LGN
Fig. 6  Schematic energy level diagram, showing the DC mechanisms
in ­Er3+ doped LGN under UV excitation
the self-trapped hole arrest a electron from the conduction
band [22].
The emission spectra of Yb:LGN excited at 261 and
305 nm wavelengths is shown in Fig. 4. A broad emission
peak ranging from 400 to 600 nm was observed with less
intensity for 261 nm excitation when compared with pure
LGN. For 305 nm excitation, the emission spectrum con-
sists of prominent peaks at 391 and 603 nm in the range
380–610 nm. The emission at 470 nm and 560 nm with UV
excitation originates owing to DAP (donor–acceptor pair)
recombination between extrinsic and intrinsic defects [23].
The emission intensity of LGN decreases with Y ­ b3+ dop-
ing. This may be due to lattice strain arising from ­Yb3+ dop-
ing in LGN. ‘a’ and ‘c’ values change from 3.2407 Å and
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Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics (2019) 30:17424–17431
5.1922 Å to 3.2469 Å and 5.1907 Å respectively when LGN
doped with ­Yb3+ (Table 1) [24]. The decrease in intensity
with doping may also be due to creation of defects states in
Yb:LGN which leads to high nonradiative relaxation [25].
Figure 5 shows emission spectra of Er: LGN at excitation
wave lengths 261 nm and 305 nm.
As in the earlier case when excited at 261 nm a broad
emission peak centered at 415 was observed in the range
390 nm to 600 nm. In addition, within this wavelength range
two more peaks at 523 and 551 nm were observed. The E ­ r3+
4 2
energy states S3/2 and H11/2 are place within the energy
range of host materials which gives the possibility for non
radiative energy shift from the host materials to ­Er3+ ions
[21]. When Er:LGN ceramics are excited at 305 nm, the PL
intensity of emission peaks at ~ 416 nm, ~ 523 nm and ~ 551
were decreased compared to 261 nm excitation. The pump
UV excites ­Er3+ from the ground state (4I15/2) to the 4G9/2
state and fast non-radiative relaxation brings the system to
the metastable 2H11/2 and 4S3/2 state. Then the radiative tran-
sition takes place from the metastable state [26]. Figure 6
shows the 2H11/2 and 4S3/2 → (4I15/2) absorption and emission
transitions of ­Er3+.
Luminescence of the prepared Er:Yb:LGN ceramics in
the wavelength region of 350–750 nm excited at 261 and
305 nm wavelengths is shown in Fig. 7. It can be seen there,
its emission is almost the same as that of the Er:LGN. The
differences of the E­ r3+doped and E ­ r3+/Yb3+codoped ceram-
ics are laid on the PL intensity. This may be owing to lattice
strain arising from ­Er3+ and ­Yb3+ doping in LGN.
For pumping in UV at 261  nm ­(Er 3+ transition
4
I15/2 → 2K15/2, 2G9/2), the levels (2H11/2, 4S3/2) are populated
via multiphonon transitions, producing green luminescence.
The width of the luminescence band of Er:Yb:LGN sample
Fig. 7  Downconversion emission spectrum under UV excitation of
­Er3+, ­Yb3+ codoped LGN
Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics (2019) 30:17424–17431 17429
is wider than the obtained Er:LGN sample. It may be due to
the superposition of ­Er3+ level 4I11/2 → 4I15/2 with the ­Yb3+
level 2F5/2 → 2F7/2.
4.2 Upconversion luminescence
The process low energy photon converted into high energy
photon is called Up conversion (UC). Inorganic insulating
materials doped with R ­ E3+ ions are the significant of up con-
version materials, as these ions have many long-lived energy
states [27]. Since biological material has least absorption
when excited in the NIR region, these UC materials are of
special attention for biomedical applications.
Figure 8 presents the UC emission spectra of the LGN,
Yb:LGN, Er:LGN and Er:Yb:LGN ceramics in the wave-
length region of 300–400 nm. The upconversion spectra of
all the samples were measured under identical conditions
upon excitation with radiation of wavelength 973 nm for
easy comparison of emission intensities.
Generally doping of Y ­ b3+ and ­Er3+are used as sensitiz-
ing ion and activator ion respectively for the preparation of
Rare-Earth doped upconverion materials. This is due to the
­ b3+ ions have excellent absorption in the Near IR
fact that Y
region (973 nm) and it has an uncomplicated energy states
with only two states. The energy difference between these
two states is almost equal to that of ­Er3+ energy states. Hence
the energy shift from Y ­ b3+ ions to E­ r3+ ions is found to effi-
cient [28]. From Fig. 8, its observed that there is no emission
peak present in LGN, Er:LGN, and Yb:LGN ceramics. A
sharp emission peak observed at 373 nm in Er:Yb:LGN is
attributed to 4G11/2 → 4I15/2 transition of ­Er3+.
­ r3+, ­Yb3+ and ­Er3+/Yb3+ doped
Fig. 8  Upconversion PL spectra of E
LGN ceramics when exposed to 973 nm
Figure 9 shows that the energy of the 2F5/2 level of ­Yb3+
is almost similar to that of the 4I11/2 level of ­Er3+ which con-
firms that, both Y­ b3+ and E
­ r3+ absorb 973 nm photons. Nev-
ertheless, the absorption cross section of the 4I15/2 → 4I11/2
transition of ­Er3+ ion is less than the absorption cross sec-
tion of the 2F7/2 → 2F5/2 transition of Y ­ b3+; therefore, most
of the excitation energy are absorbed by the ­Yb3+ions [29].
The ­Er3+ energy states are mainly populated by ground and
excited-state absorption (ESA) and by the energy transfer
(ET) from the Y ­ b3+ ions. The higher energy states produce
upconversion luminescence emission through the radiative
relaxation.
An examination of the energy level scheme of ­Er3+
(Fig. 9) shows that at least three 973 nm photons are neces-
sary to populate the 4G11/2 level. Third photon is essential
to reach the 4G11/2(Er3+) level starting either from ­Er3+ lev-
els 2H11/2, 4S3/2 or from 4F9/2. The energy level system of
­Er3+shows that the lowest energy state from which the third
photon can initiate and it is 4S3/2 level. The 4G11/2 level could
be populated mainly by the Energy transfer process of
2
F5∕2 Yb3+ +4 S3∕2 Er3+ →2 F5∕2 Yb3+
( ) ( ) ( )
) multiphonon
+2 K15∕2 , 4 G9∕2 Er3+ −−−−−−−−→4 G11∕2 Er3+
( ( )
Sequential three-photon exciting UC transition process
for ­Er3+/Yb3+ doped LGN ceramics is shown in Table 3.
In the up conversion process ­Yb3+ ion is acting as sen-
sitizer [29–31] which is shown in Table  3. ­Yb3+ ion in
2
F5/2(Yb3+) energy level can nonradiatively transfer the first
absorbed 973 nm photon energy (10.204 × 103cm−1) and
excite ­Er3+ from ground state 4I15/2 (Er3+) to 4I11/2(Er3+) state
since 4I11/2 ­(Er3+) and 2F5/2 ­(Yb3+) levels are at resonance.
At the same time, the ­Yb3+ion return to its ground state
2
F7/2(Yb3+) and absorb the second 973 nm photon which
leads to another energy transfer process. In this process E ­ r3+
Fig. 9  Schematic illustration of the energy levels and transitions for
the ­Yb3+/Er3+ system
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17430 Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics (2019) 30:17424–17431

Table 3  Sequential three-photon ) 973 nm

exciting upconversion transition Yb3+ −−−−−→2 F5∕2 Yb3+
2F
( ( )
7∕2
channels for ­Er3+/Yb3+ doped ) energy transfer
I15∕2 Er3+ +2 F5∕2 Yb3+ −−−−−−−−−→4 I11∕2 Er3+ +2 F7∕2 Yb3+
4
( ) ( ( ) ( )
LGN ceramics
( 3+ ) 973 nm 2
−−−−−→ F5∕2 Yb3+
2F
( )
7∕2 Yb
) energy transfer
I11∕2 Er3+ +2 F5∕2 Yb3+ −−−−−−−−−→4 F7∕2 Er3+ +2 F7∕2 Yb3+
4
( ) ( ( ) ( )
) energy relaxation
F7∕2 Er3+ −−−−−−−−−−−→4 S3∕2 Er3+
4
( ( )
( 3+ ) 973 nm 2
−−−−−→ F5∕2 Yb3+
2F
( )
7∕2 Yb
) energy transfer
S3∕2 Er3+ +2 F5∕2 Yb3+ −−−−−−−−−→2 K15∕2 , 4 G9∕2 Er3+ +2 F7∕2 Yb3+
4
( ) ( ( ) ( )
) energy relaxation
K15∕2 , 4 G9∕2 Er3+ −−−−−−−−−−−→4 G11∕2 Er3+
2
( ( )

G11∕2 Er3+ →4 I15∕2 Er3+ + UV light

4
( ) ( )

ion are excited from 4I11/2 ­(Er3+) energy level to 4F7/2 ­(Er3+)
energy level through the excited-state absorption (ESA)
process.
The electron in the excited 4F7/2 ­(Er3+) level relax to 4S3/2
­(Er3+) level owing to nonradiative transition. Meanwhile,
the ­Yb3+ ion returns to its ground state 2F7/2 ­(Yb3+). Then,
another energy transfer process can take place in which 2F7/2
­(Yb3+) absorbs the third 973 nm photon, and transfer the
energy from 2F5/2 ­(Yb3+) to 4S3/2 ­(Er3+) level and subse-
quently to 2K15/2, 4G9/2 ­(Er3+) levels more efficiently. The
excited ­Er3+ ions in the 2K15/2, 4G9/2 levels relax nonradia-
tively to metastable state 4G11/2, Finally in emission process
the excited electrons in 4G11/2 ­(Er3+) level transit back to
ground state of ­Er3+ (4I15/2) giving rise to emission of UV
(373 nm).
5 Conclusion
Pure and doped LGN ceramics have been synthesized by
controlled solid state diffusion of ­RE3+ ions in LGN at
relatively high temperature (1400 °C). The XRD spectrum
confirmed that the undoped and Er,Yb doped LGN shows
Langasite type structure and the lattice parameters decreased
with addition of R­ E3+ ions. SEM analysis revealed that the
grains of the synthesized samples are pseudo-hexagonal in
shape with large agglomeration. The down and up conver-
sion characteristics of the prepared samples were studied in
detail. High intense broad peak centered at ~ 400 nm with
UV excitation observed in undoped LGN is accredited to the
self trapped exciton recombination. Under UV excitation,
Er:LGN and Er:Yb:LGN samples shows ­Er3+ characteris-
tic luminescence in green region (523 nm, 2H11/2 → 4I15/2,
551 nm, 4S3/2 → 4I15/2). The host violet emission intensity
excited in UV varies with the doping of R ­ E3+ ions which is
owing to lattice strain developed from E­ r and ­Yb3+ doping
3+
in LGN. Er:Yb:LGN sample also exhibit UC luminescence
with emission of 373 nm (4G11/2 ­(Er3+)→4I15/2(Er3+)) upon
973 nm IR pumping. The upconversion mechanism recom-
mends that the energy is successfully transferred from the
­Yb3+ (sensitizer) to the E
­ r3+ (activator) through the three
photon process. The results of the present study show that
doped LGN has luminescence properties in dual excita-
tion mode i.e. both up and down conversion modes. The
doped LGN samples having dual excitation and dual emis-
sion properties are immense potential in biological and light
emitting device applications.
Acknowledgements  Authors of this paper wish to thank ISRO,
India for the research funding to carry out this work (ISRO/
RES/3/664/2014-15).
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