Host-dopant-based luminescent thermometry with adjustable sensitivity

Abstract

In recent years, exploration of novel type of optical thermometers has been a hot topic. Among the numerous optical methods for temperature sensing, the luminescence intensity ratio (LIR) thermometry has gained considerable attention due to unique advantage such as strong anti-interference ability. Here, different from the conventional ones that rely singly on dopant, we propose a LIR strategy by combining host and dopant. Specifically, the self-activated luminescence from the calcium tungstate host and the photoexcited emission from Er3+ show the totally converse responses to the variation of temperature. Depending on this interesting feature, the ratio of them is thus selected to indicate temperature, and a new LIR optical thermometry could be established. The maximum relative sensitivity is 4.67% K−1 at room temperature. Meanwhile, we also check the influence of spectral overlap and deconvolution on the performance of LIR thermometry.