Modulating trap properties by Nd3+ - Eu3+ co-doping in Sr2SnO4 host for optical information storage

We report a novel Nd3+ and Eu3+ co-doped Sr2SnO4 (SSONE) phosphor showing the capability of write-in and read-out in optical information storage. As-prepared phosphors exhibit a dominant emission (PL) band centered at 596 nm under UV excitation, closely identical with its photo-stimulated luminescence (PSL) spectrum center (595 nm) upon near-infrared (NIR) light and thermal-stimulated luminescence (TSL) spectrum center (595 nm) under heat source. Remarkably, compared with Eu3+ single-doped phosphors, the co-doping strategy enhances the deep traps and also separates the deep traps with shallow traps, which are very crucial factors for optical information storage in electron trapping materials. Further, a demonstration confirmed the optical information storage capacity by photo- and thermal-stimulating the prepared phosphors filled in the designed patterns. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement