Intense red up-conversion luminescence and temperature sensing property of Yb3+/Er3+ co-doped BaGd2O4 phosphors.

In this study, intense red and extremely weak green up-conversion (UC) luminescence was obtained in BaGd2O4: x mol% Yb3+/y mol% Er3+ phosphors under the excitations of 980 nm and 1550 nm. The corresponding maximum integrated intensity ratios of the red to green UC emissions are 50.3 and 158.7, respectively. The UC luminescence mechanisms upon different excitations were discussed. It was confirmed that two-photon and three-photon processes were responsible for both the red and green UC emissions excited at 980 nm and 1550 nm, respectively. The energy transfer efficiency from Er3+ to Yb3+ was calculated according to the fluorescence lifetime measurement under 1550 nm excitation. Temperature sensing based upon the thermally coupled energy levels 2H11/2/4S3/2 as well as thermally coupled Stark sublevels of 4F9/2 level of Er3+ was investigated under the excitation of 980 nm. The maximum absolute sensitivities were respectively obtained to be 0.42% K-1 at 573 K and 0.18% K-1 at 298 K. Our results indicated that BaGd2O4: Yb3+/Er3+ phosphors might be a kind of promising red UC phosphors with optical temperature measurement function.

Photoluminescence, optical transition properties and temperature-induced shift of charge transfer band and temperature sensing property of GdNbTiO6: Sm3+ phosphors.

GdNbTiO6: Sm3+ phosphors with various Sm3+ concentrations were prepared via a high temperature solid-state reaction method. The crystal structure of the samples was characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the as-prepared samples were confirmed to be orthorhombic phase GdNbTiO6. Photoluminescence properties were investigated by measuring the concentration- and temperature-dependent photoluminescence spectra. Concentration-dependent luminescence quenching and luminescent thermal quenching behaviors were observed and they were respectively ascribed to the electric dipole-dipole interaction between Sm3+ ions and the cooperation of energy transfer and crossover process. The chromatic characteristics were found to be dependent on the excitation wavelength and Sm3+ concentration. In addition, temperature-induced redshift of charge transfer band of GdNbTiO6 host was found in temperature-dependent excitation spectra and the opposite variations of different excitation peaks were utilized for optical thermometry. Finally, the optical transition property was studied on the basis of the diffuse reflectance spectra and Judd-Ofelt (J-O) theory, meanwhile, its accuracy was evaluated by the result of emission spectra.

Concentration effect on up-conversion luminescence and excitation path-dependent luminescence temperature quenching in YNbO4:Ho3+/Yb3+ phosphors.

Usually, the luminescence intensity and mechanism of rare-earth ions doped materials are dependent on both doping concentration and sample temperature. In this study, we attempt to explore the concentration effect on up-conversion (UC) luminescence and the dependence of luminescence temperature quenching on excitation wavelength in YNbO4: Ho3+/Yb3+ phosphors. The YNbO4: Ho3+/Yb3+ phosphors with various Ho3+ and Yb3+ concentrations were synthesized via a high-temperature solid-state reaction technique. Intense green UC emission peaked at 543 nm was observed, accompanying with weak red and near infrared (NIR) UC emissions centered at 659 and 745 nm. Based on the laser working current dependence of UC luminescence, two-photon processes were responsible for both the green and the red UC emissions under 980 nm excitation, which have no apparent dependence on both Ho3+ and Yb3+ concentrations. According to the Arrhenius model, crossover process was responsible for the temperature-dependent down-conversion (DC) luminescence quenching of Ho3+ under 452 nm excitation. However, the temperature quenching processes of the green and the red UC luminescence cannot be well explained by Arrhenius model. It was found that the UC luminescence intensity decayed with increasing sample temperature, which was caused by both the crossover and temperature-dependent energy transfer processes.

Self-powered SBD solar-blind photodetector fabricated on the single crystal of ß-Ga2O3.

A Schottky barrier diode (SBD) solar-blind photodetector was fabricated based on the single crystal ß-Ga2O3. Cu and Ti/Au were deposited on the top and bottom surface of Ga2O3 as Schottky and ohmic contacts, respectively. The SBD exhibits a higher rectification ratio of up to 5 × 107 at ±2 V. The photoresponse spectra show a maximum responsivity at 241 nm and a cutoff wavelength of 256 nm. The solar-blind/ultraviolet and solar-blind/visible rejection ratio can reach a high level of up to 200 and 1000, respectively. It is interesting that the device has a clear response to the solar-blind wavelength at zero bias, which confirms it can be used as a self-powered solar-blind photodetector.

Low Al-composition p-GaN/Mg-doped Al0.25Ga0.75N/n+-GaN polarization-induced backward tunneling junction grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition on sapphire substrate.

Low Al-composition p-GaN/Mg-doped Al0.25Ga0.75N/n(+)-GaN polarization-induced backward tunneling junction (PIBTJ) was grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition on sapphire substrate. A self-consistent solution of Poisson-Schrödinger equations combined with polarization-induced theory was used to model PIBTJ structure, energy band diagrams and free carrier concentrations distribution. The PIBTJ displays reliable and reproducible backward tunneling with a current density of 3 A/cm(2) at the reverse bias of -1 V. The absence of negative differential resistance behavior of PIBTJ at forward bias can mainly be attributed to the hole compensation centers, including C, H and O impurities, accumulated at the p-GaN/Mg-doped AlGaN heterointerface.

Nitrogen doped ZnO thin films prepared by photo-assisted metal-organic chemical vapor deposition.

Nitrogen-doped ZnO (ZnO:N) films were prepared by photo-assisted metal-organic chemical vapor deposition technique using NH3 as N doping source. The effects of in-situ light irradiation on the properties of ZnO:N films were studied by Hall measurements, X-ray diffraction, Raman scattering, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results show that stable p-type ZnO:N films with a hole concentration of 3.61 x 10(17) cm(-3) was successfully achieved. Moreover, introducing proper in-situ light irradiation during the growth process can not only effectively improve the crystalline quality of ZnO films, but also enhance the activity of (N)o (N occupies O site) acceptors by removing the undesirable hydrogen atoms from ZnO:N films. Both effects are benefit for the p-type conductivity formation. Our results indicate that photo-assisted MOCVD maybe an effective technology to realize device-quality p-type ZnO:N films.