Abstract
High-power broadband near-infrared (NIR) light sources based on laser-excited phosphors are highly desirable for photonics applications in night vision, biomedical imaging and sensing; however, the inherent energy gap law poses a great challenge for the development of efficient NIR luminescent materials. Herein we report a translucent MgO:Cr3+ ceramic fabricated by spark plasma sintering, which exhibits a broadband NIR emission peak at 810 nm, with an external quantum efficiency of 81% and ultra-high thermal conductivity of 52 W m–1 K–1. When pumped with a blue laser, the MgO:Cr3+ ceramic provides an output power exceeding 6 W with a light conversion efficiency of 29%. This laser-driven broadband NIR light source makes it possible to perform NIR imaging with a spatial resolution of 6 lp mm–1, and is a promising technology for emerging imaging applications.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable requests.
Change history
08 March 2024
In the version of the article initially published, in the Abstract, the text now reading “...a light conversion efficiency of 29%” previously read “...an electro-optical conversion efficiency of 29%” and was updated for clarity.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundations of China (grant no. 51972118), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant no. 2021YFB3500401) and the Local Innovative and Research Teams Project of Guangdong Pearl River Talents Program (grant no. 2017BT01X137).
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Z.G.X. initiated and guided the research. G.C.L., W.B.C. and Z.X. synthesized and characterized the samples, and wrote the paper, Z.G.X. and Y.Z.W. revised it. S.Z. interpreted the theoretical and experimental results. All authors discussed the results and commented on the paper.
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Nature Photonics thanks Quanlin Liu, Xiaojun Wang, Rong-Jun Xie and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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Liu, G., Chen, W., Xiong, Z. et al. Laser-driven broadband near-infrared light source with watt-level output. Nat. Photon. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-024-01400-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-024-01400-7
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