Effect of annealing on the spectroscopy performance of YVO4:Ce3+ single crystals

Abstract In this study, 1.0 at.% YVO 4 :Ce 3+ single crystals were grown in the protective atmosphere by using the Czochralski method. The crystals were annealed in Ar and H 2 atmospheres at different temperatures. The absorption and fluorescence spectra of the samples before and after annealing were measured. Results showed that the luminescent efficiency of the crystals was significantly enhanced after annealing in H 2 than after annealing in Ar. This phenomenon can be attributed to the existence of some Ce 4+ ions in the crystal lattice. These Ce 4+ ions can be effectively reduced to Ce 3+ via annealing in H 2 . With a fixed annealing time in H 2 , the luminescent intensity significantly increased with increasing annealing temperature. The possibility of the crystal as white light material was also discussed according to the luminescence properties.