New Light Emission Processes in Inorganic Materials

We synthesize new light-emitting inorganic materials. Emission is induced by photoexcitation and the photophysical processes are studied in detail by a variety of optical spectroscopic techniques. A focus of our research is on so-called upconversion processes and materials in which near-infrared radiation is transformed into visible emission. Potential applications of such processes are in lighting, imaging, display and laser devices. Both lanthanide and transition metal ion materials are investigated. Very interesting and novel behavior is observed in crystals containing both lanthanide and transition metal ions. We have chosen examples from this class of compounds to illustrate our research approach.