Model calculations for enhanced fluorescence in photonic crystal phosphor

We propose a novel photonic structure, based on the photonic crystal (PC) effect, which simulations show results in an improved fluorescence efficiency from embedded phosphor. To be specific, the phosphor pumping efficiency can be significantly improved by tuning the pump photon energy to a photonic band-edge (PBE) of the PC phosphor. We have confirmed this theoretically by calculating optical properties of one-dimensional PC phosphor structures using the transfer-matrix method and plane-wave expansion method. For a particular model structure based on a quantum dot phosphor, the fluorescence enhancement factor was estimated to be as high as 6.9 for a monochromatic pump source and 2.2 for a broad bandwidth (20 nm) pump source. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America