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Detailed investigations of the photoluminescence properties of Mn4+ (3d3) ions in YAlO3 have been performed in the temperature range 10–600 K. The luminescence of Mn4+ ions due to the transition consists of two zero-phonon lines (R lines) at 691.3 and 692.7 nm, which became visible only at low temperature, and their vibronic sidebands that cover the range of 660–740 nm. The thermal quenching of the luminescence intensity due to the non-radiative decay occurs at temperatures above 420 K. The temperature dependence of the luminescence decay time shows a quasi-linear decrease from τ = 4.9 to 1.6 ms in the temperature range from 90 to 420 K (with a temperature coefficient −0.01 ms K−1) that makes YAlO3:Mn a potentially good phosphor for a fibre optic fluorescence thermometer in this temperature range. The high-pressure low-temperature luminescence measurements in a diamond-anvil cell reveal similar pressure coefficients for Mn4+ and Cr3+ dopant ions in YAlO3, equal to 1.16 cm−1 kbar−1 and 1.08 cm−1 kbar−1, respectively.

We report results on structural and optical spectroscopic properties of Mn-doped YAlO3 (YAP) ceramics prepared by a solid-state reaction method starting from nanocrystalline oxides. A series of ceramic samples with different Mn concentrations and different Y2O3–Al2O3 compositions have been studied by means of x-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, photoluminescence and thermoluminescence measurements. Peculiarities of YAP phase formation and incorporation of manganese ions into the host are discussed. The possible application of Mn-doped YAP ceramics as thermoluminescent screens for visualization of local heating of various origin, including a heating caused by infrared laser light, has been demonstrated.