Excited state dynamics and energy transfer processes in YVO4:Er3+ crystals

An extensive investigation of the fluorescence dynamics of the (2H11/2,4S3/2), 4F9/2, 4I9/2, 4I11/2, and 4I13/2 states was carried out for 0.1%, 1%, 2.5%, and 10% Er3+ doped in YVO4. The decay profiles of the luminescence of the 4S3/2 level of Er3+ (1.0%) obey the Inokuti–Hirayama model for energy transfer for an electric dipole–electric dipole interaction in the absence of diffusion among the donors. From the analysis we were able to calculate the critical distance, R0, and it was found to be 5.7 Å: The dipole–dipole coupling parameter was estimated to be 2.9×10−51 m6 s−1 and compared well to other well known systems.