Quenching of Er(III) luminescence by ligand C–H vibrations: Implications for the use of erbium complexes in telecommunications

The authors have quantified the quenching of the luminescence lifetime of Er3+ ions in organic complexes due to the presence of CH vibrational oscillators as a function of their distance from the ion. They have shown that any hydrogen atoms within a sphere of at least 20Å from an erbium ion will cause sufficient quenching to prohibit its use in telecommunications applications.