Thermal-field boosting continuous white light generation in lanthanide doped Y2SiO5 phosphor

The continuous white light (CWL) covering the visible and near-infrared (NIR) regions can be observed in various absorptive media excited by continuous-wave (CW) lasers. It is valuable to stimulate more efforts in unravelling the involved photophysical processes and exploring its potential applications in diverse fields. Here, we proved that the enhanced thermal-field can boost the CWL emission. Using rare earth (RE) ions (Pr3+, Er3+ and Yb3+) as the photothermally active centers in Y2SiO5 phosphor, we reveal that absorbing more excitation energy and isolating the heat conduction can lead to rapid thermal field accumulation inside the material, thereby significantly reducing the excitation threshold and enhancing white light emission. Our results might have important implications for the understanding of thermally enhanced radiation and may facilitate the CWL commercial application in night vision, bioimaging, and non-destructive detection.