Sol-gel preparation and spectral characterization of Y2O3 powders doped with Yb3+ and Nd3+

Using a sol-gel process, we prepared samples of Y₂O₃ powder that were doped and codoped with Nd³⁺ and Yb³⁺. Samples were doped with different amounts of the rare earth ions in order to study the energy transfer between the dopant species. It was confirmed that energy transfer can be achieved allowing the Yb³⁺ ions to be excited using Nd³⁺ absorption peaks in the UV and visible wavelength regions. Optimum energy transfer occurred in samples doped with 0.5 at% Nd and 2 at% Yb.