An ultraviolet light emitting phosphor for mercury-free lamps is a phosphor composed of a phosphate containing at least two metal elements selected from the group consisting of group 13 elements and lanthanoid series elements, and is excited to emit ultraviolet by irradiation with vacuum ultraviolet rays or an electron beam.

The invention relates to lighting emitting devices and systems comprising a luminescent composition, said luminescent composition comprising: (i) a first emitting material, said first emitting material having a host lattice doped with EU.sup.3+ ions; (ii) a second emitting material, said second emitting material having a host lattice doped with Tb.sup.3+ ions; and (iii) sensitizer material, which sensitizer material is excitable in the violet-to-blue (400 to 480 nm) wavelength range and has an emission spectrum which overlaps at least partly with one or more excitation bands of the first emitting material and with which overlaps at least partly with one or more excitation bands of the second emitting material.

A lighting apparatus including at least one light emitting diode (LED) chip configured to emit blue light; a green phosphor having a light emission peak in a range of 500 nm to 550 nm; and a red phosphor having a light emission peak in a range of 600 nm to 650 nm, in which the red phosphor includes a first red phosphor having a light emission peak in a range of 620 nm to 630 nm and a second red phosphor having a light emission peak in a range of 630 nm to 640 nm, and the full widths at half maximum of the first and second red phosphors are in a range of 20 nm to 60 nm, respectively.

A lighting device including at least one light emitter to emit blue light, a green phosphor having an emission peak in a range of 500 nm to 550 nm, a yellow phosphor having an emission peak in a range of 550 nm to 600 nm, and a red phosphor having an emission peak in a range of 600 nm to 650 nm, in which the yellow phosphor and the red phosphor have different full widths at half maximum, and the full width at half maximum of the yellow phosphor is longer than that of the red phosphor, and, in an emission spectrum, an intensity of light emitted from the lighting device increases from 500 nm to 600 nm, and the intensity of light emitted from the lighting device at 700 nm is less than about 10% of the maximum intensity of light emitted from the lighting device.

A luminescent material is disclosed with emission in the near infrared wavelength range, the luminescent material including Sc.sub.1-x-yA.sub.yRE:Cr.sub.x, wherein MO=P.sub.3O.sub.9, BP.sub.3O.sub.12, SiP.sub.3O.sub.12; A=Lu, In, Yb, Tm, Y, Ga, Al, where 0≤x≤0.75, 0≤y≤0.9. A wavelength converting structure including the luminescent phosphor is also disclosed.

A luminescent material is disclosed with emission in the near infrared wavelength range, the luminescent material including Sc.sub.1-x-yA.sub.yRE:Cr.sub.x, wherein MO=P.sub.3O.sub.9, BP.sub.3O.sub.12, SiP.sub.3O.sub.12; A=Lu, In, Yb, Tm, Y, Ga, Al, where 0≤x≤0.75, 0≤y≤0.9. A wavelength converting structure including the luminescent phosphor is also disclosed.

A phosphor includes, as a main component, a compound represented by a general formula (3-a)YO.sub.3/2.aCeO.sub.3/2.(5-b)AlO.sub.3/2.bGaO.sub.3/2.cKO.sub.1/2.dPO.sub.5/2, where a, b, c and d satisfy 0.12≦a≦0.18, 1.50≦b≦3.00, 0.01≦c≦0.08, and 0.01≦d≦0.08.

The phosphor of the invention is based on a lanthunum cerium terbium phosphate, and it is characterized in that the phosphate consists of particles having a mean size of at most 4 μm, in that it has a lithium content of at most 30 ppm, a boton content of at most 30 ppm and in that it has a variation of brightness between the brightness measured on the phosphor at 25° C. and that measured on the same phosphor at 200° C. of at most 4%.

The invention relates to a converter system, for instance for a light emitting device, comprising: a first material, which comprises, preferably essentially consists of an emitting material, emitting a color of interest, and is essentially free of sensitizer material, a second sensitizer material, which is essentially free of the first material and absorbs light (is excitable) in the wavelength range of interest and its emission spectrum overlaps at least partly with one or more excitation bands of the first material.

A particulate lanthanide-doped material comprising an inorganic host phosphor and a lanthanide ion dopant. With the lanthanide-doped material being in an oxidized state, photoluminescence is suppressed. Photoluminescence of the material can be activated by the presence of a reducing substance that reduces the lanthanide-doped material in a redox interaction. The lanthanide-doped material can be used for biodetection (e.g. detecting the presence of microorganisms in a sample). This could have numerous applications, such as detecting the presence of contaminating microorganisms in a sample (e.g. in a food or cosmetic product).