Creating a blue-light-excitable, ultra-broadband and relatively long-wavelength near-infrared emission in Cr3+-activated garnet by controlling cationic disorder†

A series of garnet-type solid-solution materials, namely Na_xCa_{3−2 x}Gd_xIn₂Ge₃O₁₂:Cr³⁺ (0 ≤ x ≤ 1.5), were created by introducing cationic disorder into the dodecahedral site, and were found to exhibit a nearly unchanged excitation peak in the blue light region, a wide-range spectral tunability (800–905 nm) and an ultra-broadband spectral coverage (fwhm_max = 205 nm).