INVESTIGATION OF MULTICOLORED AND WHITE LIGHT EMISSION FROM IR-EXCITED NANO-PARTICLES

The search for multicolored light produced by some IR laser-excited luminescent nano-powders has revealed, for laser power exceeding a threshold value, the emission of white light (WL) with black-body characteristics. We are directing our research to the study of the physical parameters that may influence the threshold power of the laser and the efficiency of the WL emission.
A typical compound that we are investigating consists of nano-powders of SrZrO3 doped with Yb. The parameters of relevance include Yb concentration, pressure, temperature, size of nano-crystals, exciting power and wavelength of the laser, dynamical parameters such as decay and build-up patterns.
The aim of this research is both theoretical and experimental: theoretical for I will try to uncover the mechanism of the WL production and experimental for the possible application as efficient light sources of systems similar to the ones that we will investigate (oxide nano-powders doped with lanthanide or transition metal ions).
The “new” light sources in the market (fluorescence lights sources, and LED lamps) beat the Edison bulbs in efficiency, but they do not produce the black-body emission of the Edison bulbs that is most pleasing to the eye.