Investigation of holmium-doped zirconium oxide ceramic phosphor as an ultraviolet wavelength-discriminating laser beam viewer

Abstract We report the fluorescence spectra of ZrO 2 and trivalent Ho-doped ZrO 2 ceramics under ultraviolet (UV) excitation at 213, 266, and 355 nm wavelengths. The Ho 3+ -doped ZrO 2 ceramics exhibited varying fluorescence color tones depending on the excitation wavelength used. The different color tones match the fluorescence spectrum characteristics at each excitation wavelength. Our results demonstrate that Ho 3+ -doped ZrO 2 ceramics can discriminate between UV light, specifically the third, fourth, and fifth harmonics of a Nd:YAG laser. It can potentially be used for developing UV laser beam viewers to aid laser alignment.