Up-Conversion Photoluminescence in Thulia and Ytterbia Co-Doped Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Single Crystals
, Yuyang Huang 1,*, Wen Deng 1 and Zhukun Zhou 2,*
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This manuscript contains a description of the conditions used for the growth of YSZ single crystals doped by Tm3+ and Yb3+ ions by the optical floating zone (OFZ) method. Several doping levels were tested to see the effects induced by the doping level variation. The structural properties of the samples were evaluated by the XRD analysis and Raman spectra. The photoluminescence parameters were measured by conventional experimental methods. The experimental conditions used for the sample preparation and property measurements are given appropriately that opens a possibility for future testing of the results by other researchers. In my opinion, this study is valuable because the efficient up-conversion blue-light-emitting crystal was obtained and its basic properties were evaluated. The general level of this study is high and manuscript could be considered for publication after minor revision aimed at the increase of paper quality. My several corrections proposed for the text and questions are listed below for author consideration.
1. Line 102: It can be seen from Figure 1 that the length of crystal is about tens of millimeters, but the authors say it is only 8mm.
2. It can be seen from the XRD spectrum that all samples are in the cubic phase. Why did the authors also test the Raman spectra?
3.Line 166: The Eq (1) is a picture, not an editable version.
4. Line 275, “Tm3+ -Yb3+” should be “Tm3+ -Yb3+”.
Author Response
We thank the reviewers for their thorough and rapid assessment of our paper and would like to extend our appreciation to them and the editorial staff who are handling this manuscript. A revised manuscript has now been prepared and considers all the comments made by the reviewers. Our responses to the specific points are detailed in attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
My comments are in attacment.
Comments for author File: Comments.docx
Author Response
We thank the reviewers for their thorough and rapid assessment of our paper and would like to extend our appreciation to them and the editorial staff who are handling this manuscript. A revised manuscript has now been prepared and considers all the comments made by the reviewers. Our responses to the specific points are detailed in attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
