Review of up-conversion optical material: From theory to application

Tabatabaee, Farzane; Sabbagh Alvani, Aliasghar; Taherian, Mozhdeh; Sameie, Hasan; Moosakhani, Shima

Review of up-conversion optical material: From theory to application

Authors

¹ Department of Polymer Engineering and Color Technology, Institute for Color Science and Technology

² Department of Polymer Engineering and Color Technology, Amirkabir University of Technology

³ Department of Color and Plymer Engineering, Amir Kabir University of Technology

Abstract

Recently, up-conversion UC optical materials have attracted a lot of interest in biomarkers, solar cells, temperature and chemical sensors. They have the ability to convert radiations with lower energy into higher ones via a nonlinear optical process. Three main classes of UC processing mechanisms are: excited state absorption ESA, energy transfer up-conversion ETU and photon avalanche PA. The most common host materials are based on fluorides and oxides. The iones such as Er3 , Tm3 and Ho3 are suitable for activator centers and Yb3 is a popular sensitizer ion in UC process. The main focus of this review will be on the theory of synthesis, surface treatments and applications of UC phosphores as a novel generation of advanced optical materials especially in biology.