Single‐Crystal Rare‐Earth‐Doped Yttrium Orthosilicate Phosphors

This is a study of a group of Czochralski grown rare‐earth‐doped Y 2 SiO 5 single‐crystal cathodoluminescent phosphors. Such dopants as Ce 3+ , Tb 3+ , Eu 3+ , Sm 3+ , Tm 3+ , Gd 3+ , and some of their combinations were investigated. Activation by ( Ce 3 + + Gd 3 + ) , ( Tb 3 + + Gd 3 + ) , and by ( Tb 3 + + Eu 3 + ) produced the most efficient blue, green, and red phosphors, respectively. In comparison with our previous best garnet single‐crystal phosphor system, the Y 2 SiO 5 ‐ based blue, green, and red phosphors are by factors 12.7, 1.23, and 0.7 brighter, respectively. Gd 3 + : Y 2 SiO 5 was shown to be an efficient single line (313 nm) emitting phosphor of very high spectral brightness in UV.