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Photoluminescence provides information about the surrounding environment. In this study, aiming to develop a non-invasive deep body-temperature sensing method, we investigated photoluminescence properties of afterglow zirconia (ZrO 2 ) by pulsed near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation based on the biological temperature. Pulsed light irradiation produced optically stimulated luminescence, followed by afterglow, with the property of repeating 100 times or more. Furthermore, the basic principle of temperature measurement was demonstrated through afterglow decay curve measurements. The use of harmless ZrO 2 as a sensing probe and NIR light, which is relatively permeable to living tissues, is expected to realize temperature measurements in the brain and may also facilitate optogenetic treatment., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Dynamic control of heat flow for applications in thermal management has attracted much interest in fields such as electronics and thermal engineering. Spin-chain ladder cuprates are promising materials to realize dynamic control of heat flow, since their magnon thermal conductivity is sensitive to the hole density in the spin ladders, which can be dynamically controlled by an external field. Here, we demonstrate the electric control of heat flow using a polycrystalline cuprate film and an ionic liquid. The results showed that a voltage application to the interface causes imperfectly recoverable decreases in both the thermal conductance of the film and the peak due to magnons in the Raman spectra. This result may be attributed to an increase in the hole density in the spin ladders. This report highlights that magnon thermal conduction has potential for the development of advanced thermal management applications.

Development of minimally invasive and site-selective biological temperature sensing is quite important in medical field. This study presents a novel temperature sensing technique based on afterglow and optically-stimulated luminescence (OSL). The dependence of afterglow photoluminescent intensity on the environmental temperature of zirconia (ZrO 2 ) phosphor is examined to validate its use as a sensing probe. In addition, assuming the measurement in deep-part of human body, we have applied the information gathered from our validation to observe OSL from the ZrO 2 by irradiation with near-infrared laser through a bone sample. This study demonstrates an alternative medical application of phosphor, and introduces an elemental-technology for the temperature sensing.

Energy storage technology is crucial for a sustainable society, and its realisation strongly depends on the development of materials. Oxide glass exhibits high durability. Moreover, the amorphous structure of the glass without periodic ordering demonstrates excellent formability and controllability, thus enabling a large-scale production. These factors provide impetus for the development of new materials for thermal management applications. As vanadium dioxide (VO 2 ) with a strongly correlated electron system exhibits a structural phase transition, leading to a large heat of transition. Therefore, VO 2 demonstrates immense potential as a phase change material (PCM). This study reports the fabrication of VO 2 -dispersed glass and examines its potential as a new latent heat storage material, which can be applied for massive PCM heat storage applications.

Silicate glass has been used for long time because of its advantages from material's viewpoint. In this paper, we report the observation of Pockels effect by Mach-Zehnder interferometer in polycrystalline ceramics made from a ternary silicate glass via crystallization due to heat-treatment, i.e., glass-ceramics. Since the silicate system is employed as the precursor, merits of glass material are fully utilized to fabricate the optical device component, in addition to that of functional crystalline material, leading us to provide an electro-optic device, which is introducible into glass-fiber network.