Preparation and optical properties of a kind of electron trapping infrared stimulable materials

A kind of novel infrared upconversion and optical storage materials such as CaS: Eu, Sm and CaS: Ce, Sm has been successfully prepared by sulfurization flux method (SFM), phases and structures identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD) appear that the synthetical materials have single phase and the purity of phase is more than 98.5%. The grain size distribution and grain morphology obtained by scanning electron microscope (SEM) indicate that these materials prepared by CaCO₃ have better crystallinity and larger grain size. Optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) measurements are made by a fluorescence spectrometer and a spectrophotometer. It appears that this kind of optical materials can realize optical storage by means of electron trapping when these materials are exposed to UV radiation or short wavelength visible light at room temperature. Stimulated by infrared radiation, these materials can transform infrared radiation into visible light. The authors put forward two kinds of activators in order to improve this kind of novel materials by means of analyzing the atomic structure of the activators.