Three-photon-excited upconversion luminescence of YVO4 single crystal by infrared femtosecond laser irradiation.

We report on the upconversion luminescence of a pure YVO4 single crystal excited by an infrared femtosecond laser. The luminescent spectra show that the upconversion luminescence comes from the transitions from the lowest excited states 3T1, 3T2 to the ground state 1A1 of the VO4 3-. The dependence of the fluorescence intensity on the pump power density of laser indicates that the conversion of infrared irradiation to visible emission is dominated by three-photon excitation process. We suggest that the simultaneous absorption of three infrared photons promotes the VO4 3- to excited states, which quickly cascade down to lowest excited states, and radiatively relax to ground states, resulting in the broad characteristic fluorescence of VO4 3-.