Efficient 10-fold upconversion through steady-state non-thermal-equilibrium excitation

Dafna Granot, Nimrod Kruger, Assaf Manor, Carmel Rotschild

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Frequency upconversion of a few low-energy photons into a single high-energy photon contributes to imaging, light sources, and detection. However, the upconverting of many photons exhibits negligible efficiency. Upconversion through laser heating is an efficient means to generate energetic photons; yet the spectrally broad thermal emission and the challenge of operating at high temperatures limit its practicality. Heating specific modes can potentially generate narrow upconverted emission; however, so far such "hot-carriers" have been observed only in downconversion processes and as having negligible lifetime, due to fast thermalization. Here we experimentally demonstrate upconversion by excitation of a steady-state non-thermal-equilibrium population, which induces steady, narrow emission at a practical bulk temperature. Specifically, we used a 10.6 μm laser to generate 980 nm narrow emission with 4% total efficiency and upconverted radiance that far exceeds the device's possible blackbody radiation. This opens the way for the development of new light sources with record efficiencies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)174-178
Number of pages5
JournalACS Photonics
Volume3
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright: © 2016 American Chemical Society.

Keywords

  • frequency upconversion
  • nonequilibrium thermodynamics

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