Optical properties of rare earth doped strontium aluminate (SAO) phosphors: A review

After the first news on rare earth (RE) doped strontium aluminate (SAO) phosphors in late 1990s, researchers all over the world geared up to develop stable and efficient persistent phosphors. Scientists studied various features of long lasting phosphors (LLP) and tried to earmark appropriate mechanism. However, about two decades after the discovery of SrAl2O4: Eu2+, Dy3+, the number of persistent luminescent materials is not significant. In this review, we present an overview of the optical characteristics of RE doped SAO phosphors in terms of photoluminescence (PL), thermoluminescence (TL) and afterglow spectra. Also, we refresh the work undertaken to study diverse factors like dopant concentration, temperature, surface energy, role of activator, etc. Simultaneously, some of our important findings on SAO are reported and discussed in the end.