Characterizing the luminescent properties of upconversion nanoparticles in single and densely packed state

Luminescent properties of Er^(3+)-and Yb^(3+)-co-doped CaF_(2)upconversion nanoparticles(UCNPs)were investigated in single particle and densely-packed states with a custom-built microscope.The single UCNPs exhibit linear dependency of luminescent intensity on excitation power while the densely-packed UCNPs exhibit a 2-order power law-dependency indicating a two-photon absorption process.Time-domain luminescence intensity measurements were performed and the curves were fitted to excitationnemission rate functions based on a simplified three-state model.The results indicate that the intermediates in single particles are much less and saturated in a short time,and there are strong couplings of the ground states and intermediate states between neighboring UCNPs in densely packed UCNPs.