Rare-earth aluminate crystals for fluorescence thermometer application

Abstract

Rare-earth aluminate crystals have the advantage of chemical and thermal stability as the sensor materials of a fiber-optic fluorescence thermometer. Among many rare-earth aluminate crystals, rare-earth garnet, Y/sub 3/Al/sub 5/O/sub 12/, doped with Cr/sub 2/O/sub 3/, is found to be useful as the sensor material for a fluorescence thermometer. Temporal characteristics of fluorescence from Cr doped Y/sub 3/Al/sub 5/O/sub 12/ crystals are comparable to that of ruby (Cr doped Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/) crystal.