Luminescence properties of Y3Al5O12:Ce nanoceramics

Comparative analysis of the luminescent properties of Y3Al5O12:Ce (YAG:Ce) transparent optical ceramics (OС) with those of single crystal (SC) and single crystalline film (SCF) analogues has been performed under excitation by pulsed synchrotron radiation in the fundamental absorption range of YAG host. It has been shown that the properties of YAG:Ce OC are closer to the properties of the SCF counterpart, where YAl antisite defects are completely absent, rather than to the properties of SC of this garnet with large concentration of YAl antisite defects. At the same time, the luminescence spectra of YAG:Ce OC show weak emission bands in the 200–470 nm range related to YAl antisite defects and charged oxygen vacancies (F+ and F centers). YAG:Ce ОС also possesses significantly larger contribution of slow components in the Ce3+ luminescence decay under high-energy excitation in comparison with SC and SCF of this garnet due to the involvement of antisite defects, charged oxygen vacancies as well as boundaries of grains in the energy transfer processes from the host to the Ce3+ ions.