To develop fluorescent labels for multicolor imaging, rare-earth-ion-doped ZrO 2 nanocrystals were prepared by a complex precursor method. Laser excitation of 976 nm induced single fluorescent bands of green and red upconversion ͑UC͒ in ZrO 2 :Er 3+ and ZrO 2 :Er 3+ +Yb 3+ nanocrystals, respectively. A suppression ratio ͑SR͒ parameter was introduced, defined as the UC intensity ratio of the main band to all the other detected impurity bands, and SR values in the order of 10-100 were experimentally obtained, demonstrating the excellent monochromaticity of the UC labels. Thus, the two-color UC labels obtained are potentially ideal to be used for biological multicolor imaging.

Room temperature bright white upconversion (UC) luminescence in Yb3+–Tm3+–Er3+ ions doped Y2O3 nanocrystals was obtained under single-wavelength diode laser excitation of 976nm. The white light consists of the blue, green, and red UC radiations which correspond to the transitions G41→H63 of Tm3+, H11∕22∕S3∕24→I15∕24, and F9∕24→I15∕24 of Er3+ ions, respectively. The UC mechanisms were proposed based on spectral, kinetic, and pump power dependence analyses. The calculated color coordinates display that white light can be achieved in a wide range of pumping powers, which promises their potential applications in the field of displays, lasers, photonics, and biomedicine.

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Simultaneous detection of multiple-gas species has for the first time (to our knowledge) been demonstrated by using a multimode diode-laser-based correlation spectroscopy (MDL-COSPEC) scheme. Concentration measurements of a mixture of CO(2) and CO gas were performed by probing overlapping line spectra around 1.57microm using an MDL. Species identification and corresponding quantitive analysis were implemented by correlating the recorded absorption signals of the sample gas mixtures with those of the reference gases of particular interest, attaining accuracies of 2% and 1%, respectively. MDL-COSPEC is a generic technique with potential application for simultaneous detection of multiple gases having resolvable narrow lines.

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A method for measuring diffuse reflectivity using cubic cavity based on the variable port fraction method was developed by measuring oxygen P11 line at 762 nm using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy. An experimental method to determine the additional path length l0 was presented. We measured the diffuse reflectivity of a cubic cavity with scattering coatings of different thickness. The error of diffuse reflectivity was reduced from 0.004 to 0.0003 when the diffuse reflectivity increased from 0.867(4) to 0.9887(3). A simulation result manifests that the error of diffuse reflectivity has the potential to be further reduced at higher diffuse reflectivity.

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An optical sensor based on differential absorption spectroscopy for real-time monitoring of industrial nitric oxide (NO) gas emission is described. The influence of gas absorption interference from sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) in the environment was considered and a spectral separation technique was developed in order to eliminate this interference effect. The absorption spectrum of SO 2 around 226 nm was evaluated by the SO 2 concentration obtained using the experimentally recorded absorption spectrum around 300 nm. The absorption spectrum of NO around 226 nm was obtained by subtracting the absorption of SO 2 from the integral absorption spectrum of SO 2 and NO. The concentration measurements were performed at atmospheric pressure. The technique was found to have a lower detection limit of 0.8 ppm for NO per meter path length (SNR = 2) and be immune from the influence from SO 2 on the NO measurement. The sensor based on this technique was successfully employed for in situ measurement of SO 2 and NO concentrations in the flue gas emitted from an industrial coal-fired boiler.