Persistent and photo-stimulated luminescence in Ce3+/Cr3+ activated Y3Al2Ga3O12 phosphors and transparent phosphor-in-glass

Blue-light-excitable Ce3+/Cr3+ codoped Y3Al2Ga3O12 persistent phosphors were synthesized by a traditional solid-state reaction method. Appropriate amounts of Cr3+ dopants were demonstrated to play an important role in improving the Ce3+ green persistent luminescence by increasing both trap states and densities and bridging the gap between shallow traps and deep ones in the host. Furthermore, benefitting from the constraining of a large amount of electrons in the deep traps, intense photo-stimulated luminescence was observed in the present products upon excitation with an 808 nm laser. Finally, as an alternative to transparent ceramic, transparent bulk Ce/Cr: Y3Al2Ga3O12 phosphor-in-glass was prepared by a facile low-temperature co-sintering route. Different from the case of Ce/Cr: Y3Al2Ga3O12 powder, the persistent luminance of phosphor-in-glass was greatly enhanced as the incident and output light could totally pass through the whole sample.