The emission of Er

3+

around 1.54 m in silicate host matrices drives great interest as this wavelength corresponds to the minimum attenuation in silica-based optical fibers (third window). High density ions implantation would cause much defect in silicate host matrix. In our study

erbium doped glass was prepared by ions implantation method with the density of 310

16

cm

-2

. These samples were annealed at temperature from 773 K to 1273 K for 1 hour. They were characterized with Raman spectra

X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS)

absorption spectra

and photoluminescence spectra (PL). In our experiment

visible and infrared luminescence from Er

3+

and a broad defect-related luminescence were observed. At room temperature

the strongest PL intensity from Er

3+

was observed for the sample annealed at 1173 K. The intensity of the 558 nm emission decreases with increasing temperature

while the intensity of the 537 nm line actually peaks at 300 K. This effect is explained based on the thermalization of electrons between the two closely spaced energy levels. A fortuitous temperature dependence of the

4

S

3/2

levels to the

4

I

15/2

ground state was discovered. The intensity of the

4

S

3/2

line increases with increasing temperature below 180 K

then decreases from 180 K to room temperature

which can be attributed to energy transfer from Er

3+

to SiO

2

defect.