Temperature sensing from the emission rise times of Eu(3+) in SrY2O4

The emission rise time of Eu(3+)-doped SrY2O4 was investigated in the temperature range of 20-200 °C for application in luminescence thermometry. After pulsed excitation, the energy transfer between the adjacent Eu(3+) ions causes a emission build-up from the (5)D0 level of Eu(3+) and a notable emission rise occurs prior to decay. The emission rise-time values linearly decrease with temperature, providing an absolute sensitivity of 0.66 μs °C(-1) and a maximal relative sensitivity of 5.53% °C(-1) at 200 °C, for samples containing 0.5 at% Eu(3+) ions. It is shown that the time after excitation at which emission reaches a maximum (time-to-max) can also be exploited for temperature sensing, since it is easily measurable and shows a linear dependence with temperature.