title: Experimental evidence for quantum cutting co-operative energy transfer process in Pr3+/Yb3+ions co-doped fluorotellurite glass: dispute over energy transfer mechanism.
abstract: Pr3+/Yb3+doped materials have been widely reported as quantum-cutting materials in recent times. However, the question of the energy transfer mechanism in the Pr3+/Yb3+pair in light of the quantum-cutting phenomenon still remains unanswered. In view of that, we explored a series of Pr3+/Yb3+co-doped low phonon fluorotellurite glass systems to estimate the probability of different energy transfer mechanisms. Indeed, a novel and simple way to predict the probability of the proper energy transfer mechanism in the Pr3+/Yb3+pair is possible by considering the donor Pr3+ion emission intensities and the relative ratio dependence in the presence of acceptor Yb3+ions. Moreover, the observed results are very much in accordance with other estimated results that support the quantum-cutting phenomena in Pr3+/Yb3+pairs, such as sub-linear power dependence of Yb3+NIR emission upon visible ∼450 nm laser excitation, integrated area of the donor Pr3+ion's visible excitation spectrum recorded by monitoring the acceptor Yb3+ion's NIR emission, and the experimentally obtained absolute quantum yield values using an integrating sphere setup. Our results give a simple way of estimating the probability of an energy transfer mechanism and the factors to be considered, particularly for the Pr3+/Yb3+pair.
authors.affiliation: CSIR - Network of Institute for Solar Energy (NISE), New Delhi, India and GSTS, Glass Division, CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, 196, Raja S. C. Mullick Road, Kolkata - 700 032, India. sbalaji@cgcri.res.in annapurnak@cgcri.res.in.
authors.forename: Sathravada
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0820-6444
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Balaji
authors.affiliation: CSIR - Network of Institute for Solar Energy (NISE), New Delhi, India and GSTS, Glass Division, CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, 196, Raja S. C. Mullick Road, Kolkata - 700 032, India. sbalaji@cgcri.res.in annapurnak@cgcri.res.in.
authors.forename: Debarati
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.affiliation: CSIR - Network of Institute for Solar Energy (NISE), New Delhi, India and GSTS, Glass Division, CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, 196, Raja S. C. Mullick Road, Kolkata - 700 032, India. sbalaji@cgcri.res.in annapurnak@cgcri.res.in.
authors.forename: Kaushik
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Biswas
authors.affiliation: GSTS, Glass Division, CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, 196, Raja S. C. Mullick Road, Kolkata - 700 032, India. sbalaji@cgcri.res.in annapurnak@cgcri.res.in.
authors.forename: Gaurav
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: CSIR - Network of Institute for Solar Energy (NISE), New Delhi, India and GSTS, Glass Division, CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, 196, Raja S. C. Mullick Road, Kolkata - 700 032, India. sbalaji@cgcri.res.in annapurnak@cgcri.res.in.
authors.forename: Kalyandurg
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Annapurna