Luminescent Materials

This book gives an overview on the fundamentals and recent developments in the field of luminescent materials. Starting from the definitions and properties of phosphors, novel application areas as well as spectroscopic methods for characterization will be described. The reader will benefit from the vast knowledge of the authors with backgrounds in industry as well as academia.

Green-Emitting Luminescent Materials: Phosphor Materials, Properties, Synthesis, and Characterization summarizes the present knowledge on the use, advances, advantages and weaknesses of a large number of experimental techniques that are available for the characterization of inorganic green emitting phosphors. Different characterization techniques with spectroscopy are classified according to the group of the technique used, the information they can provide, or the materials that they are used to observe. The authors describe the main characteristics of the techniques and their operation principles and give various examples of their use, presenting them in comparison with one another. This book is suitable for researchers and practitioners in academia, research and development in the disciplines of materials science and engineering, chemistry and physics. Presents a concise overview of different types of green emitting phosphor materials for solid state lighting and other relevant application Reviews and compares the most relevant characterization methods of inorganic green-emitting phosphors Addresses fundamentals, luminescence mechanisms and key optical materials, including synthesis methods

Luminescence, for example, as fluorescence, bioluminescence, and phosphorescence, can result from chemical changes, electrical energy, subatomic motions, reactions in crystals, or stimulation of an atomic system. This subject continues to have a major technological role for humankind in the form of applications such as organic and inorganic light emitters for flat panel and flexible displays such as plasma displays, LCD displays, and OLED displays. Luminescent Materials and Applications describes a wide range of materials and applications that are of current interest including organic light emitting materials and devices, inorganic light emitting diode materials and devices, down-conversion materials, nanomaterials, and powder and thin-film electroluminescent phosphor materials and devices. In addition, both the physics and the materials aspects of the field of solid-state luminescence are presented. Thus, the book may be used as a reference to gain an understanding of various types and mechanisms of luminescence and of the implementation of luminescence into practical devices. The book is aimed at postgraduate students (physicists, electrical engineers, chemical engineers, materials scientists, and engineers) and researchers in industry, for example, at lighting and display companies and academia involved in studying conduction in solids and electronic materials. It will also provide an excellent starting point for all scientists interested in luminescent materials. Finally it is hoped that this book will not only educate, but also stimulate further progress in this rapidly evolving field.

Everyone starting work in this field is faced with the lack of basic books. Here, two renowned researchers introduce the reader to luminescence and its applications, describing the principles of the luminescence processes in a clear way and dealing not only with physics, but also with the chemistry of systems. Particular attention is paid to materials such as lamp phosphors, cathode-ray and X-ray phosphors, scintillators and many other applications.

Electro-optic devices based on doped wide-band materials are present in industrial uses, in military applications and in everyday life. Whether one engages in laser surgery with a neodymium-Y AG laser or one communicates overseas using optical fibers, the development of these materials is both scientifically and commercially of great interest. Much of the most innovative work has been done in the last 15 years in this area. A minor revolution in optical fiber communications has occurred with the development of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers. Solid-state laser development shifted into high-gear with the theoretical and experimental study of doubly-doped garnet lasers. Recent developments on semiconductor laser arrays are making diode pumped solid-state lasers commercially feasible. The purpose of this book is to detail these developments and to point out that many of the same underlying physical processes control advances in several diverse applications. For example, the basic science of energy transfer will be discussed by Zharikov et al. and Rotman for energy transfer and dopant-defect interactions, respectively; it will also be crucial in understanding cerium-doped scintilla tors, neodymium-chromium lasers, and up-conversion fiber lasers. As another example, phonon-induced non-radiative relaxation will appear in every chapter in this book.

This book describes a unique combination of quantum chemical methods for calculating the basic physical properties of luminescent materials, or phosphors. These solid inorganic materials containing an optically active dopant are key players in several major fields of societal interest, including energy-efficient lighting, solar cells, and medical imaging. The novel ab initio methods described in this book are especially designed to target the crowded and complex electronic excited states of lanthanide activators in inorganic solids. The book is well suited to both new and experienced researchers alike and appeals to a broad range of theoretical and experimental backgrounds. The material presented enables an adept understanding of elaborate calculations, which, in tandem with experiments, give essential insight into difficult luminescence problems and quandaries, thus fully preparing the reader for an educated search for new functional luminescent materials

This issue of ECS Transactions focuses on those characteristics of nanoscale materials that relate to their luminescence properties. Topics covered include the effects of quantum confinement, the role of surface states, loss mechanisms, methods to improve luminescence efficiency, bulk vs. nanoparticle luminescence, the role of phonons in nanomaterials, nanophosphors for biophotonics and biomarkers, nanoparticles for light emitting diodes, and nanophosphors for traditional phosphor applications.