Designing photochromic materials with high photochromic contrast and large luminescence modulation for hand-rewritable information displays and dual-mode optical storage

Inorganic photochromic materials have been identified as attractive possibilities in many photonic applications due to their outstanding thermal stability and eminent fatigue resistance. However, the relatively low photo-chromic contrast of inorganic photochromic materials restricts their further development. A novel method for achieving high photochromic performance is presented in this paper through volatilization element selection, high temperature sintered and low-valence ion doping. The obtained Ba(Zr0.16Mg0.28Ta0.56)O-3 ceramics exhibits an ultra-high photochromic contrast of 62.1% with a fast response time of 3 s upon alternate 365 nm illumination and 350 C thermal stimulus (or 450 nm illumination), which presents the best performance among the inorganic photochromic materials. Benefiting from these excellent properties, Ba(Zr0.16Mg0.28Ta0.56)O-3 is the pioneer inorganic photochromic ceramics to support real-time handwriting and photobleaching information display. Moreover, due to the perfect overlap between the absorption band of Ba(Zr0.16Mg0.28Ta0.56)O-3 :0.05%Pr3+ after 365 nm illumination and the excitation/emission peak of Pr3+, a large luminescence modulation of 92.5% is achieved, which reveals the great potential of Ba(Zr0.16Mg0.28Ta0.56)O-3 :0.05%Pr3+ in dual-mode optical infor-mation storage. This work is expected to provide a significant guidance for the design of high performance inorganic photochromic materials and promote the applications in optical information storage.

Automated summary

Inorganic photochromic materials with high thermal stability and fatigue resistance have great potential in photonics, but their development has been limited by low photochromic contrast. A novel method involving element selection, sintering, and ion doping has been introduced to achieve high photochromic performance, with Ba(Zr0.16Mg0.28Ta0.56)O-3 ceramics showing the best performance so far. These materials can support real-time handwriting and photobleaching information display, as well as dual-mode optical information storage.