Investigation of Fluorescence Yield of Phosphors in Vacuum Ultraviolet Region

Abstract

A theoretical model describing the dependence of quantum efficiency of a phosphor on the intensity of exciting radiation is developed. This model takes into account three dominant processes contributing to the loss of radiation when the host is excited by vacuum ultraviolet radiation above its bandgap energy, and fluorescence occurs through transfer of radiation from the host to the activator ions. The three processes are depletion of the ground state, nonradiative energy transfer in the excited state, and surface recombination of electron-hole pairs. It has been shown that the surface recombination effect can be treated adequately by assuming that the excited state lifetime of the host material is modified by a loss factor associated with this effect. © 2004 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.