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Unified Theory of Thermal Quenching in Inorganic Phosphors

We unify two prevailing theories of thermal quenching (TQ) in rare-earth-activated inorganic phosphors - the cross-over and auto-ionization mechanisms - into a single predictive model. Crucially, we have developed computable descriptors for activator environment stability from ab initio molecular dynamics simulations to predict TQ under the cross-over mechanism, which can be augmented by a band gap calculation to account for auto-ionization. The resulting TQ model predicts the experimental TQ in 29 known phosphors to within ~ 3-8%. Finally, we have developed an efficient topological approach to rapidly screen vast chemical spaces for the discovery of novel, thermally robust phosphors.