Synthesis and laser-excited IR luminescence of YYbPO solid solutions.

We have determined the composition range of solid solutions in the binary system YPO-YbPO and identified the key trends in the composition dependence of their IR Stokes luminescence intensity and decay time in the range 0.96-1.1 μm. The results were used to develop a new narrow-band IR phosphor, YPO:Yb. Under 0.940-μm laser excitation, this phosphor offers an increased IR Stokes luminescence intensity in the range 0.96-1.1 μm (about twice as high as that of the well-known commercially available phosphors L-54 and FSD-546-2), with an afterglow time of 1700-1800 μs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]