Luminescent garnets: A tutorial overview

In this paper the optical properties of garnet compounds, highlighting their use in lasers, scintillators, and phosphors for scanners, Hg lamps, and LEDs, is reviewed. We show how compositional variations within the garnet lattice can lead to unique optical properties and characteristics. This is attractive to researchers, who desire to build an understanding as to how material modifications influence material properties as well as to commercial developers who aim at optimizing optical properties for specific uses. The discussions extend to garnet materials in transparent ceramic and single crystal forms.