An innovative route to tune upconversion (UC) emission in β-NaYF(4):Yb(3+)/Tm(3+) nanorods through codoping a third rare-earth ion upon continuous wave excitation near 976 nm is reported. The dependence of UC emission on codopant concentration and environment temperature shows that tailored local environment and readjustable depopulation of excited-state ions are responsible for the tuning of UC luminescence. Codopant ions introduce a new distribution of active ions and a modified distance between Tm(3+) and Yb(3+) ions, making UC systems more sensitive to impurity ions than downconversion systems.
