Eye-safe 2 μm luminescence from thulium-doped silicon.

We report on photoluminescence in the 1.7-2.1 μm range of silicon doped with thulium. This is achieved by the implantation of Tm into silicon that has been codoped with boron to reduce the thermal quenching. At least six strong lines can be distinguished at 80 K; at 300 K, the spectrum is dominated by the main emission at 2 μm. These emissions are attributed to the trivalent Tm(3+) internal transitions between the first excited state and the ground state.