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Giant photon avalanches observed in nanoparticles

In some materials, the absorption of a single photon can trigger a chain reaction that produces a large burst of light. The discovery of these photon avalanches in nanostructures opens the way to imaging and sensing applications.
By
  1. Andries Meijerink

    1. Andries Meijerink is at the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht 3584 CC, the Netherlands.

  2. Freddy T. Rabouw

    1. Freddy T. Rabouw is at the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht 3584 CC, the Netherlands.

The rich energy-level structure of ions from the lanthanide series of elements allows them to be used for a process known as photon upconversion — in which two photons are combined to generate one higher-energy photon. Nanoparticles that emit upconverted photons can be used in imaging techniques to produce pictures that are free from background signals1, thereby giving them an edge over other fluorescent probes used for imaging. Lee et al.2 report in a paper in Nature that a special type of upconversion called photon avalanching can occur in nanoparticles that contain lanthanide ions (known as lanthanide-doped nanoparticles). This phenomenon had previously been observed only in millimetre- to centimetre-scale crystals3,4, and might enable a variety of laser applications.

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Nature 589, 204-205 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03659-6

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