Preparation and Fluorescence Properties of a Cr3+:γ-AlON Powder by high temperature solid state reaction

Abstract γ-AlON and Cr3+: γ-AlON powders were successfully synthesized by high temperature solid state reaction in nitrogen atmosphere with γ-Al2O3, Cr3+: γ-Al2O3 and AlN as raw materials. The γ-AlON and Cr3+: γ-AlON powders possess uniform morphology with spinel structure and the size distribution of 50∼100 nm. Cr3+ ions exist in the main lattice of γ-AlON, which is verified by XPS and PL spectra. The excitation of the d-d energy level transition of Cr3+ ions can be attributed to the transition of 4A2(2F)→4T1 (4F) (located at 430 nm) and 4A2(4F)→4T2 (4F) (located at 588 nm), respectively. The luminescence peaks can be due to the defects of the matrix by the characteristic luminescence peaks of Cr3+. The Cr3+: γ-AlON powders with luminescent performance will be a candidate for new laser materials.