Strategies to approach high performance in Cr3+-doped phosphors for high-power NIR-LED light sources

Zhenwei Jia; Chenxu Yuan; Yongfu Liu; Xiao-Jun Wang; Peng Sun; Lei Wang; Haochuan Jiang; Jun Jiang

doi:10.1038/s41377-020-0326-8

Strategies to approach high performance in Cr³⁺-doped phosphors for high-power NIR-LED light sources

Light Sci Appl. 2020 May 15:9:86. doi: 10.1038/s41377-020-0326-8. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Zhenwei Jia^#^{1

2}, Chenxu Yuan^#^{1

3}, Yongfu Liu¹, Xiao-Jun Wang⁴, Peng Sun¹, Lei Wang², Haochuan Jiang¹, Jun Jiang¹

Affiliations

¹ 1Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology & Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201 China.
² 2College of Physics and Optoelectronics, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024 China.
³ 3University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China.
⁴ 4Department of Physics, Georgia Southern University, Statebore, GA 30460 USA.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Broadband near-infrared (NIR)-emitting phosphors are key for next-generation smart NIR light sources based on blue LEDs. To achieve excellent NIR phosphors, we propose a strategy of enhancing the crystallinity, modifying the micromorphology, and maintaining the valence state of Cr³⁺ in Ca₃Sc₂Si₃O₁₂ garnet (CSSG). By adding fluxes and sintering in a reducing atmosphere, the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) is greatly enhanced to 92.3%. The optimized CSSG:6%Cr³⁺ exhibits excellent thermal stability. At 150 °C, 97.4% of the NIR emission at room temperature can be maintained. The fabricated NIR-LED device emits a high optical power of 109.9 mW at 520 mA. The performances of both the achieved phosphor and the NIR-LED are almost the best results until now. The mechanism for the optimization is investigated. An application of the NIR-LED light source is demonstrated.

Keywords: Atom optics; Lasers, LEDs and light sources; Optical materials and structures.