| abstract |
A basic phosphor which comprises a crystal represented by A2Si5-xAlxOxN8-x [wherein A represents one element selected from among Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba or a mixture of two or more elements selected from among the above elements, and x represents a value of 0.05 to 0.8] as an active material and, dissolved in the crystal by forming a solid solution, a metal element M [wherein M represents one or more elements selected from Mn, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm and Yb]; and an illuminator and a luminous utensil for an image display device which use the above phosphor. The above phosphor is an inorganic phosphor which exhibits orange and red luminous characteristics of high brightness and is chemically stable, and the above illuminator is excellent in color rendering and the above luminous utensil is excellent in durability. |