title: Energy-transfer from ultra-small Au nanoclusters to Er³⁺ ions: a short-range mechanism.
abstract: Sub-nanometric Au nanoclusters are known to act as very efficient sensitizers for the luminescent emission of Er(3+) ions in silica through a non-resonant broad-band energy-transfer mechanism. In the present work the energy-transfer process is investigated in detail by room temperature photoluminescence characterization of Er and Au co-implanted silica systems in which a different degree of coupling between Er(3+) ions and Au nanoclusters is obtained. The results allow us to definitely demonstrate the short-range nature of the interaction in agreement with non-radiative energy-transfer mechanisms. Moreover, an upper limit to the interaction length is also set by the Au-Au intercluster semi-distance which is smaller than 2.4 nm in the present case.
authors.affiliation: Physics and Astronomy Department and CNISM, University of Padova, via Marzolo 8, I-35131 Padova, Italy. tiziana.cesca@unipd.it giovanni.mattei@unipd.it.
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cesca
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kalinic
authors.forename: Niccolò
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Michieli
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maurizio
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scian
authors.forename: Gurram
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Devaraju
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Battaglin
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mazzoldi
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mattei