Influence of heavy metal oxide and activator concentration on spectroscopic properties of Eu 3+, Dy 3+ and Tb 3+ ions in lead borate glasses

Abstract

Heavy metal lead borate glasses doped with rare earth ions were examined. The influence of heavy metal oxide PbO and activator concentration on luminescence properties of rare earth ions are discussed. Rare earth ions were limited to Eu3+, Dy3+ and Tb3+ which are emitting in the visible light. Increasing concentration of lead oxide in relation to boron oxide causes an increase in R (Eu3+), Y/B (Dy3+) and G/B (Tb3+) spectroscopic factors which correspond to the relative integrated luminescence intensities of 5D0–7F2 /5D0–7F1, 4F9/2–6H13/2 /4F9/2–6H15/2 and 5D4–7F5 /5D4–7F6 transitions, respectively. Moreover, the influence of heavy metal oxide and activator concentration on luminescence decays from excited states of rare earth ions was examined in details.