Entirely Reversible Photochromic Glass with High Coloration and Luminescence Contrast for 3D Optical Storage

Transparent glass with photochromism and luminescence has emerged as an attractive material due to its exciting prospects in the fields of information encryption and 3D optical storage. However, thermal stimulation has usually been used to bleach photochromic glass, limiting its applications. Herein, a new entirely photostimulation-induced reversible photochromic glass, doped with lanthanide ions and silver chloride (RE-Ag glass), was explored. Under the alternating stimulation of 365 nm light and a 690 nm laser, reversible photochromism (ΔRt = 91%) from transparent to black and luminescence modification (ΔRm = 93%) with high fatigue resistance were achieved in the RE-Ag glass. This is attributed to the formation and decomposition of silver nanoparticles in the glass host. The optical information can be recorded and erased in the RE-Ag glass with good rewritability and re-erasability, realizing a double-model 3D optical storage. The result highlights a new strategy to explore an entirely photostimulation induced photochromic glass with luminescence for 3D optical storage applications.