Spectroscopic characterization of erbium centers in Er@C₆₀
Item Description
Discovered in the early nineties, metallofullerenes consist of a metal ion or ions encased in a carbon cage. They belong to the same class of carbon compounds as nanotubes, and exhibit promising optical properties. Due to the chemical similarity between fullerene structures of various sizes, and the low yield of endohedral fullerenes by current production methods, we seek to establish a new purification method for Er@C₆₀ through toluene solubility and temperature dependent sublimation. The C₆₀ cage is of interest due to its relative abundance in production methods to other fullerenes, and the potential for incorporating M@C₆₀ molecules in C₆₀ crystals or films. We performed spectroscopic characterization of the material through its emission spectra in the near infrared regime, and assign a lower bound on the lifetime of the erbium centers in order to establish the interaction between the fullerene cage and the trapped erbium.
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