NIR emission of lanthanides for ultrasensitive luminescence manometry—Er3+-activated optical sensor of high pressure

Pressure is an important physical parameter and hence its monitoring is very important for different industrial and scientific applications. Although commonly used luminescent pressure sensors (ruby-Al2O3:Cr3+ and SrB4O7:Sm2+) allow optical monitoring of pressure in compressed systems (usually in a diamond anvil cell; DAC), their detection resolution is limited by sensitivity, i.e., pressure response in a form of the detected spectral shift. Here we report, a breakthrough in optical pressure sensing by developing an ultra-sensitive NIR pressure sensor (dλ/dP = 1.766 nm GPa-1). This luminescent manometer is based on the optically active YVO4:Yb3+-Er3+ phosphor material which exhibits the largest spectral shift as a function of pressure compared to other luminescent pressure gauges reported elsewhere. In addition, thanks to the locations of excitation and emission in the NIR range, the developed optical manometer allows high-pressure measurements (without spectral overlapping/interferences) of various luminescent organic and inorganic materials, which are typically excited and can emit in the UV-vis spectral ranges.