Soda‐lime‐silicate glass has been implanted with 500 keV Er ions at fluences between 8.6×1014and 1.8×1016/cm2with the aim to optically dope the material in the near surface region. The ion range was 100 nm, and Er concentrations in the range 0.09—1.9 at. % were obtained. The characteristic photoluminescence (PL) of Er3+around 1.54 &mgr;m is observed at room temperature in as‐implanted glass. The PL intensity increases by an order of magnitude after annealing above 500 °C, as a result of annihilation of implantation‐induced defects. Annealing causes an increase in PL lifetime. As a function of Er fluence, the PL intensity first increases, but levels off above ∼6×1015Er/cm2(0.6 at. % Er peak concentration). The PL lifetime decreases from 13 to 1.5 ms for increasing Er concentration. The decrease in PL efficiency with concentration is attributed to concentration quenching caused by Er‐Er interactions. The optimal combination of PL intensity and lifetime is reached at ≊0.4 at. % peak concentration, for which the lifetime is 6 ms. For high Er concentrations and high pump intensities (∼3 kW/cm2) an additional, intensity dependent quenching mechanism (possibly cooperative upconversion) is observed.