Effect of selected luminescent layers on CCT, CRI, and response times

Abstract

Phosphors have been used as wavelength converters in illumination for many years. When it is excited with blue light, the frequently used yttrium aluminium garnet doped with cerium (YAG:Ce) phosphor converts a part of blue light to a wideband yellow light, resulting in the generated light having a white color. By combining an appropriate concentration of the YAG:Ce phosphor and blue excitant light, white light of a desired correlated color temperature (CCT) can be obtained. However, this type of illumination has a lower color rendering index value (CRI). In an attempt to improve the CRI value, we mixed the YAG:Ce phosphor with europium-doped calcium sulfide phosphor (CaS:Eu), which resulted in a considerably increased CRI value. This article examines an experiment with luminescent layers consisting of a mixture of selected phosphors and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Different thicknesses in these layers were achieved by changing the speed of rotation during their accumulation onto laboratory glass using the method of spin coating. The spectral characteristics of these luminescent layers as they were excited with blue light emitting diode (LED) and laser diode (LD) were then determined. A suitable combination of the YAG:Ce phosphor with a phosphor containing europium, as it was excited with a blue LED, yielded a source of white light with a CRI value of greater than 85. The response time in the tested luminescent layers to a rectangular excitant impulse (generated by a signal generator and transmitted by LD) was also measured in order to examine their potential use in visible light communications (VLC).