Visible to infrared low temperature luminescence of Er3+, Nd3+ and Sm3+ in CaSnO3 phosphors

Abstract

Novel stannate phosphor, orthorhombic CaSnO3 phosphors doped with Er3+, Nd3+ and Sm3+ have been synthesized by a conventional solid-state method under N2+H2 gas flow. Visible and near-infrared photoluminescence (PL) properties were investigated as function of laser power and temperature. It was observed that all dopant ions are well incorporated in CaSnO3 and are responsible for the optical emission in the temperature range of 10–300K. PL peaks at 490, 546, 656, 696, 894, 1065, and 1344nm were observed for the CaSnO3:Nd3+ phosphor and associated to f–f transition of Nd3+ ion. Emissions at 564, 600–607, 646–656 and 714nm were detected for the CaSnO3:Sm3+. The strongest one, observed at 600nm, was associated to 4G5/2→6H7/2 of Sm3. Emission lines at 528, 548, 662 at 852nm were also seen for CaSnO3:Er3+ and correspond to Er3+ intra-4fn shell transitions. In addition, at low temperatures, a stark splitting of the 4f electron energy levels of the Er3+ ions were observed in infrared region (1520–1558nm) and assigned to the transition between the 4I13/2 state and the 4I15/2 state. Finally, our results show that the rare earth doped CaSnO3 has remarkable potential for applications as optical material since it exhibits efficient and sharp emissions due to rare earth ions.