The relationship between photoluminescence quenching concentrations and excitation wavelengths in (Gd,Y)BO3:Tb

Abstract The quenching concentrations of 5D4–7F6 emission of Tb3+ in (Gd,Y)BO3:Tb under 130–290 nm excitation were systematically investigated. The results revealed that its quenching concentrations of luminescence excited at particular wavelengths are dependent on corresponding excitation bands. Resulting in a calculation of coupling interaction, it was found that the quenching concentrations at excitation regions due to electrostatic interaction are often small while those corresponding to exchange interaction are usually larger (> 10%). Moreover, the quenching concentrations are also influenced significantly by luminescence sensitization of Gd3+ and Y3+ ions. Based on these results, a possible photoluminescence quenching mechanism was proposed.