Single crystal rare-earth doped yttrium orthosilicate phosphors.

Study of a new group of single crystal cathodoluminescent phosphors obtained by bulk growth of rare-earth doped Y(2)Si0 (5) crystals. The blue phosphor (Y(1.995)Ce(0.005) Si0(5) is better than our best garnet phosphor by a factor of 10. The narrow band green emitting (Y(1.829)Ce(0.005)Tb(0.166) Si0(5) is almost twice as bright as previously used Tb(3+):Lu (3) Al(3)Ga(2)0 (12) phosphor. A preferential energy transfer from Ce(3+) to Tb(3+)((5)D(4)) state was established in Ce (3+):Tb(3+): Y(2)Si0(5) crystals. This is our brightest phosphor to date. The (Y(1.829)Tb(0.033)Eu(0.138))Si0(5) emits in the red, and is comparable in brightness to our red garnet based phosphor, with the benefit of a shorter emission wavelength and, therefore, higher luminescence efficiency. An energy transfer from both Tb(3+)((5)D(3.4))levels to Eu(3+) was established.