A fundamental self-generated quenching center for lanthanide-doped high-purity solids

An intrinsic self-generated quenching center for lanthanide-doped high-purity solids is presented for transitions, which cannot be quenched by cross-relaxation. This center, in fact a cluster-like pair of active centers, is shown to come from a particular multiphonon-assisted energy transfer between them. Being due to the vibronic properties of the host it cannot be suppressed. Its role in lanthanide first excited states self-quenching is analyzed and a simple mathematical expression is derived. This law is compared with experimental results for self-quenching in Er-doped fluorophosphate glasses.