Optical anti-counterfeiting and information storage based on rare-earth-doped luminescent materials

Rare-earth-doped materials with abundant electronic energy levels are capable of emitting bright multicolor radiation and are therefore considered irreplaceable candidates for optical anti-counterfeiting and optical information storage. This review summarizes recent theoretical and experimental advances of optical anti-counterfeiting and optical information storage based on rare earth ion-doped materials. Static and dynamic anti-counterfeiting schemes based on excitation light and luminescent center modulation, as well as hybrid modulation schemes based on mechanical force, thermal stimulation, etc., are discussed first. This is followed by a discussion of writing and reading of stored information, light-emitting pattern erasure schemes based on light irradiation and heating, and binary optical information storage based on plasmonic photothermal scheme. This review will promote a clear understanding of luminescence modulation in rare-earth-doped materials and contribute to the design of high-security multidimensional optical anti-counterfeiting systems and highly-integrated multiple-writable optical information storage systems, which are essential to the information security and storage.