Long lasting blue phosphorescence and photostimulated luminescence in 12CaO⋅7Al2O3:Eu thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

•Eu-doped 12CaO⋅7Al2O3 thin films have been prepared on quartz substrates by PLD.•Eu-doped 12CaO⋅7Al2O3 thin film annealed in vacuum present long lasting blue emission.•Eu-doped 12CaO⋅7Al2O3 thin film present excellent photostimulated luminescence.

Long lasting blue emitting Eu-doped 12CaO⋅7Al2O3 thin films have been prepared on quartz substrates by pulsed laser deposition combined with post-annealing. The 12CaO⋅7Al2O3 phase is formed after annealing the films above 900 °C in vacuum ambient. Upon 323 nm excitation, the thin films exhibit a blue long lasting emission peaked at 444 nm, assigned to the 5d–4f transitions of Eu2+. The films annealed at 950 °C have stronger luminescence and longer lasting time than that annealed at 900 °C. The phosphorescence intensity of vacuum annealed film is better than that annealed in H2/N2 atmosphere, which might be due to the increase of shallow trap numbers during the vacuum annealing process. Thermoluminescence curves demonstrate that vacuum and H2/N2 atmosphere annealing could introduce a large number of both shallow and deep traps into 12CaO⋅7Al2O3:Eu thin films. After UV irradiation, excellent photostimulated luminescence can be observed under 980 nm excitation. Our results suggest that 12CaO⋅7Al2O3:Eu phosphor may serve as a promising blue luminescent materials used in fabrication of optical storage and illumination in dark environments.