Near-infrared photoluminescence of lanthanide-doped liquid crystals

Abstract
The first near-infrared photoluminescent liquid-crystalline material has been made by doping the nematic liquid-crystalline matrix MBBA with the lanthanide(III) β-diketonate complexes [Nd(dbm)3(phen)], [Er(dbm)3(phen)] and [Yb(dbm)3(phen)], respectively. The photoluminescence intensity of the ytterbium(III) sample increases by 100% when the isotropic phase is cooled to the nematic phase.