Spontaneous emission enhancement based on thin-film chalcogenide/fluoride one dimensional photonic crystal

• Published in: Optical materials 2022-08, Vol.130, p.112587, Article 112587
• Main Authors: Gao, Xibao, Cathelinaud, Michel, Zhang, Xianghua, Ma, Hongli, Liu, Zhaojun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemical Sciences; Photonic crystal microcavity; Rare-earth doped chalcogenide materials; Spontaneous emission control
• ISSN: 0925-3467; 1873-1252
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optmat.2022.112587

We report the fabrication of a one-dimensional photonic crystal microcavity via co-evaporation with electron beam/thermal evaporation process, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the first rare-earth doped one-dimensional photonic crystal based on chalcogenide/fluoride thin films. The microcavity was made of a half-wave dysprosium doped Ga2Se3 layer sandwiched between two embedded Ga2Se3/YF3 distributed Bragg reflectors. Near infrared transmittance spectra indicated that the stopband region from 1090 nm to 1515 nm was formed and a cavity resonance centered at 1342 nm. A cavity quality factor of 153 was achieved resulting in a 53-fold enhancement in spontaneous emission intensity. This photonic crystal microcavity configuration offers a new route to mid-wavelength and long-wavelength infrared fluorescence enhancement, which has attracted considerable interest for potential applications, such as fluorescence-based imaging and biomedical sensing. •Dy3+ doped 1-D photonic crystal microcavity was fabricated by co-evaporation technique.•Photoluminescence intensity of the microcavity was enhanced by a factor of 53 compared to the single layer reference.•Emission spectrum narrowing of Dy3+ ion due to the cavity effect was observed.