Investigation of energy exchange between silicon nanocrystals and Er3+ in silica

We present a photoluminescence study of 1.53 μm emission from erbium in silicon-rich silica that demonstrates efficient energy exchange between silicon nanocrystals and optically active erbium ions. We develop a rate-equation model of the interaction. Using this, we determine the effective erbium absorption cross-section, which appears to be several orders of magnitude higher than that in stoichiometric silica. This cross-section enhancement suggests the possibility of producing very efficient silicon-based broadband pumped optical devices for integrated optoelectronics, which exploit the nanocrystal, rare-earth coupling mechanism.