Optical spectroscopy of Cr³⁺-doped transparent nano-glass ceramics for lifetime-based temperature sensing

Transparent bulk glass ceramic containing Cr3+:LiGa5O8 nanoparticles was fabricated as an alternative for monocrystal to explore the possible application in fluorescence lifetime-based temperature sensing. Such glass ceramic exhibited deep-red luminescence upon the excitation of the wide wavelength range of visible light. Impressively, the Cr3+ lifetime dramatically decreased from 2.45 to 0.22 ms with the temperature increasing from 293 to 563 K, owing to the competition of radiation transitions from the thermally coupled 2E and 4T2 excited states. A two-level kinetic model was adopted to interpret this temperature-dependent luminescence of Cr3+, which gave a highest temperature sensitivity of 1.15%  K(-1).