Luminescence phenomena: An introduction

Luminescence phenomena have fascinated mankind since the earliest times. The light from the aurora borealis, glow worms, luminescent wood, rotting fish and meat are all examples of naturally occurring luminescence. E. Newton Harvey's 770 page volume, 'A History of Luminescence: From the Earliest Times until 1900' published by American Physical Society (1957) is a classic which documents history of luminescence from antiquity to modern times. The purpose of this review is to highlight the basic concepts of luminescence phenomenon, which has been achieved by a detailed discussion of mechanism of luminescence based on Cofiguration Co-ordinate model and Jablonski diagrams. There are several varieties of luminescence, each named according to what the source of energy is, or what the trigger for the luminescence is. The phenomenon of luminescence can be classified into various categories depending on the mode of excitation. More importance is given to Photoluminescence (PL) and Thermoluminescence (TL) due to their vide variety of applications. PL, TL, OSL, and PCTL are discussed briefly along with bioluminescence and other luminescence processes. Applications of fluorescence in a variety of fields, and description of phosphors have also been discussed in some detail in this Chapter. Copyright © 2014 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved.