Luminescence and energy transfer properties of Gd³⁺ and Dy³⁺ in borosilicate glasses for tunable emission materials

Abstract

This work investigates the physical, optical, luminescence, and scintillation properties of borosilicate glasses doped with different concentrations of Gd2O3 and Dy2O3. All glasses were prepared by the melt quenching technique. The density and molar volume value increase as the Gd2O3 and Dy2O3 content increases. Dy3+ in glasses absorb photons in visible light and near-infrared regions, confirmed by the absorption spectra. The emission spectra of glasses show two strong peaks at 575 nm (4F9/2→6H13/2) and 481 nm (4F9/2→6H15/2) under Gd3+, direct Dy3+ and X-ray excitation. The integral scintillation efficiency of 1.50Dy:12.5Gd is 7.22%, compared with BGO crystal. The luminescence of glass can be tuned for different shades of white emission by selecting the excitation source such as photon with 275 nm, 387 nm and X-ray, respectively. The developed glasses are the potential for tunable emitting and scintillation material applications.