Currently, pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is a widely used technique to grow thin films for academic research and for industrial applications. The PLD has superior advantages including versatility, control over the growth rate, stoichiometric transfer and unlimited degree of freedom in the ablation geometry compared to other deposition techniques. The primary objective of this review is to revisit the basic operation mechanisms of the PLD and discuss recent modifications of the technique aimed at enhancing the quality of thin films. We also discussed recent progress made in the deposition parameters varied during preparation of luminescent inorganic oxide thin films grown using the PLD technique, which include, among others, the substrate temperature. The advanced technological applications and different methods for film characterization are also discussed. In particular, we pay attention to luminescence properties, thickness of the films and how different deposition parameters affect these properties. The advantages and shortcomings of the technique are outlined.

We synthesized and characterized S c V O 4 : B i 3 + thermographic phosphor particles and demonstrated their use as a tracer for temperature imaging in a near-ambient temperature liquid flow using a single laser/camera luminescence lifetime dual-frame ratio-based method. Owing to a high temperature sensitivity of up to 6%/°C, the single-shot single-pixel temperature precision at a 400 µm spatial resolution is better than ± 0 . 4 ∘ C ( 1 σ ) across the 20 to 60°C range, representing a factor > 5 improvement compared to previous works using thermographic phosphors. The measurement duration is on the order of the luminescence lifetime (2 µs), which is applicable in both gas and liquid flows. This is a general temperature imaging method for sensitive measurements in dynamic fluid mechanics and thermal science applications.