Enhanced broadband orange-red emission of Eu3+ via Sm3+ co-doping in YAlO3 single crystal

Sm 3+ /Eu 3+ : YAlO 3 (Sm 3+ /Eu 3+ : YAP) single crystal with a size of Ф (25-35) mm × (50-60) mm was successfully grown and analyzed. The use of Sm 3+ co-doping to enhance Eu 3+ : 5 D 0 → 7 F 2 orange-red emission has been investigated in the YAP crystal for the first time. Compared with the Eu 3+ single-doped YAP crystal, the Sm 3+ /Eu 3+ co-doped YAP crystal possessed a larger fluorescence emission cross section (0.90×10 −21 cm 2 ), higher quantum efficiency (78.4%), and comparative fluorescence lifetime (1.74 ms), corresponding to the stimulated emission of Eu 3+ : 5 D 0 → 7 F 2 transition. Moreover, the energy transition efficiency of the energy transition process from the Sm 3+ : 4 G 5/2 level to the Eu 3+ : 5 D 0 level was calculated to be as high as 47.31%. These results suggest that Sm 3+ ion can be used as an efficient sensitizer to enhance the orange-red fluorescence emission and can lead to the expansion of the emission range from 585–640 nm in Sm 3+ /Eu 3+ co-doped YAP crystal.