Luminescence Intensity Ratio Thermometry with Er3+: Performance Overview

Abstract

The figures of merit of luminescence intensity ratio (LIR) thermometry for Er3+ in 40 different crystals and glasses have been calculated and compared. For calculations, the relevant data has been collected from the literature while the missing data were derived from available absorption and emission spectra. The calculated parameters include Judd–Ofelt parameters, refractive indexes, Slater integrals, spin–orbit coupling parameters, reduced matrix elements (RMEs), energy differences between emitting levels used for LIR, absolute, and relative sensitivities. We found a slight variation of RMEs between hosts because of variations in values of Slater integrals and spin–orbit coupling parameters, and we calculated their average values over 40 hosts. The calculations showed that crystals perform better than glasses in Er3+-based thermometry, and we identified hosts that have large values of both absolute and relative sensitivity.