Inorganic photochromic material is an available medium to obtain optical information storage. The photochromic property of the inorganic material is mainly from the defects of the host. However, the formation of defects in the host is uncontrollable, in particular, the revisable formation and removement of defects are difficult. Thus, there are few inorganic materials with the revisable photochromism upon the entire light stimulation. Therefore, it is an urgent need to find a suitable approach to design inorganic photochromic materials. Here, the photochromic PbWO 4 :Yb 3+ , Er 3+ ceramic was designed with the help of valence state change of W 6+ → W 5+ and Pb 2+ → Pb 4+ . Upon the 532 nm laser stimulation, the photochromism of the PbWO 4 :Yb 3+ , Er 3+ ceramic was obtained based on the Pb 2+ + hν (532 nm) → Pb 4+ + 2e − and W 6+ + e − + hν (532 nm) → W 5+ reaction, resulting in the optical information writing. Under the stimulation of an 808 nm laser, the written optical information was erased based on the W 5+ + hν (808 nm) → W 6+ + e − and Pb 4+ + 2e − + hν (808 nm) → Pb 2+ reaction. In addition, the photochromism-induced upconversion emission modification was obtained in the PbWO 4 :Yb 3+ , Er 3+ ceramic, realizing the effective and nondestructive reading out of optical information. The cyclic experiment demonstrated a good reproducibility of both photochromism and upconversion emission modification, exhibiting the potential application of the PbWO 4 :Yb 3+ , Er 3+ ceramic as the optical data storage medium.
Optical data storage technology has many advantages over the traditional solid-state and magnetic storage technology, such as low cost, multi-dimensional storage, and rewritable capability. Therefore, the optical data storage technology has been in increasing demand for optical storage media. Herein, the photochromic and photoluminescence properties of BaMgSiO 4 :Bi 3+ ceramics were investigated. The
BaMgSiO4:Bi3+ ceramics showed reversible photochromism from gray to pink upon alternating the 254 nm ultraviolet light and 532 nm laser irradiation. This is caused by the electron trapping and de-trapping in the oxygen vacancies of the BaMgSiO 4 :Bi 3+ host. This reversible behavior of photochromism was applied to fabricate different patterns on the surface of the BaMgSiO 4 :Bi 3+ ceramics, which exhibited the reversible dual-mode optical information recording and erasing abilities. The photoluminescence reversible modulation of the BaMgSiO 4 :Bi 3+ ceramics was obtained through the photochromic phenomenon. This modification behavior of luminescence could be applied to read-out the recording information in the BaMgSiO 4 :Bi 3+ ceramics. The coloration and bleaching of BaMgSiO 4 :Bi 3+ ceramics were dependent on the time of light stimulation, which facilitated multiplexing encoding. This photoluminescence and photochromism multiplexing of the BaMgSiO 4 :Bi 3+ ceramics enhanced the optical data storage capability.
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