Samarium and manganese incorporation to improve color rendering of LuAG:Ce3+ phosphor ceramic for laser-driven lighting: Color-tunable and energy transfer study

In this study, Ce3+ and Sm3+ were incorporated into Lu3Al5O12 (LuAG: Ce3+, Sm3+) ceramics for the fabrication of white LDs. Multiple narrow-intensified emissions around 569 nm, 618 nm, and 667 nm originating from the 4G5/2→6HJ (J=5/2, 7/2, 9/2) transitions of Sm3+ were identified, as an efficient energy transfer (ET) from Ce3+ to Sm3+ ions.

Impressively, the ET efficiency of 47.4% from Ce3+ to Sm3+ was achieved by spectral regulation; this was the highest value among those of Ce3+-Sm3+-co-doped garnet phosphor materials, and its mechanism was deduced to be dipole–dipole interaction based on the Inokuti–Hirayama (I–H) model. The integral and red emission intensities of the as-prepared LuAG:0.02Ce3+,0.04Sm3+ ceramics at 425 K were 85.8% and 75.3% of that at 300 K, respectively, implying satisfactory thermal stability of fluorescence.