Laser-driven NIR light source based on MgO:Cr3+,Ni2+ phosphor-in-glass film for NIR spectroscopy application

Abstract

Laser-driven lighting technology is a remarkable innovation in the field of solid-state lighting. High-efficiency white light sources have been commercially produced, but laser-driven near-infrared (NIR) light source has not yet been captured, which hindered the numerous optoelectronic applications such as NIR spectroscopy and imaging techniques. Inspired by the observation that laser-driven lighting could break the limited power density and achieve effective output optical power density under higher incident optical power density, here, a novel NIR MgO:Cr³⁺,Ni²⁺ phosphor-in-glass film was prepared and combined on the sapphire substrate to fabricate laser-driven NIR light source. The results show that laser-driven NIR light source based on blue laser and MgO:Cr³⁺,Ni²⁺ phosphor-in-glass film combination could achieve a NIR output optical power density of 5.3 mW mm⁻², which is 5 times higher than LED-driven NIR light source based on the same MgO:Cr³⁺,Ni²⁺ phosphor-in-glass film. Finally, we successfully demonstrated the potential applications of the as-fabricated laser-driven NIR light source in the field of night vision and high-penetration imaging. This finding provides an approach to achieving high-performance NIR light sources thereby opening up a new avenue for the exploration of NIR spectroscopy technology.