Multi-stimulated far-UVC luminescence for solar-blind imaging

Chongyang Cai; Leipeng Li; Xiaohuan Lv; Huimin Li; Tao Li; Pei Li; Wenting Zhao; Lingzhu Zi; Shiji Feng; Xuan Fan; Hailei Zhang; Dengfeng Peng; Feng Wang; Jianrong Qiu; Yanmin Yang

doi:10.1038/s41467-025-61522-6

Multi-stimulated far-UVC luminescence for solar-blind imaging

Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 6;16(1):6224. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-61522-6.

Authors

Chongyang Cai¹, Leipeng Li², Xiaohuan Lv¹, Huimin Li¹, Tao Li¹, Pei Li¹, Wenting Zhao¹, Lingzhu Zi¹, Shiji Feng¹, Xuan Fan¹, Hailei Zhang³, Dengfeng Peng^{4

5

6}, Feng Wang^{7

8}, Jianrong Qiu⁹, Yanmin Yang¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ College of Physics Science and Technology, Hebei University, Baoding, China.
² College of Physics Science and Technology, Hebei University, Baoding, China. lpl@hbu.edu.cn.
³ College of Chemistry & Materials Science, Hebei University, Baoding, China.
⁴ Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Intelligent Optical Measurement and Detection, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China. pengdengfeng@szu.edu.cn.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems of Ministry of Education and Guangdong Province, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China. pengdengfeng@szu.edu.cn.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Radio Frequency Heterogeneous Integration, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China. pengdengfeng@szu.edu.cn.
⁷ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. fwang24@cityu.edu.hk.
⁸ Hong Kong Institute for Clean Energy, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. fwang24@cityu.edu.hk.
⁹ State Key Laboratory of Modern Optical Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
¹⁰ College of Physics Science and Technology, Hebei University, Baoding, China. yangym@hbu.edu.cn.

PMID: 40617860
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-61522-6

Abstract

Lanthanides-doped luminescent materials have gathered considerable attention due to their application potential in stress sensing, lighting and display, anti-counterfeiting technology and so forth. However, existing materials mainly cover the 380-1540 nm range, with slight extension to the UV region, impeding their applications in solar-blind imaging, background-free tracking, concealed communication, etc. To address this challenge, here we propose guidelines for far-UVC (200-230 nm) optical design. Accordingly, we achieve multi-stimulated far-UVC luminescence at ~222 nm in Pr³⁺-doped SrF₂, stemming from the inter-configurational 4f5d → 4f ² transition of Pr³⁺. Besides Pr³⁺, the SrF₂ host shows high tolerance to Ce³⁺, Nd³⁺, Sm³⁺, Eu^2+,3+, Gd³⁺, Tb³⁺, Dy³⁺, Ho³⁺, Er³⁺, Tm³⁺ and Yb³⁺, vastly extending the emission wavelength across the entire spectral range from 200 to 1700 nm. Particularly, these materials exhibit self-recoverable mechanoluminescence by direct mechanical excitation, along with thermally and mechanically stimulated emission after X-ray irradiation. We demonstrate that these lanthanides-doped SrF₂ crystals offer unique opportunities for high-contrast marking and structural health monitoring in complex environments.