Correlation between luminescence of cerium and chemical compositions in lithium silicate-based glasses

Abstract In contrast to conventional photoluminescence, the radiation-induced luminescence of glasses is difficult to understand because of the complex energy transfer system. In this study, we examined the optical and luminescent properties of Ce3+ in lithium silicate-based glasses prepared in air. The Ce3+ ratio in the glasses decreased with increasing Ce concentration, which is the opposite of the trend previously observed for Al2O3–P2O5 glasses. The 33.3Li2O-66.7SiO2 (LS) glass, which is the stoichiometric chemical composition of Li2Si2O5 crystal, exhibited higher photoluminescence intensity, quantum yield (QY), X-ray-induced scintillation intensity, and storage luminescence than 34Li2O–5MgO–10Al2O3–51SiO2 (GS10) glass. The pulse height spectra obtained by 252Cf irradiation also suggested that a higher light yield was observed in the LS glasses compared with GS10 glasses. The 0.5 mol% Ce-doped LS glass exhibited the highest light yield 493.7 ph/n among these glasses despite the low QY value. It is found that additional factors correlate with the light yield by 252Cf irradiation in addition to the QY and Ce3+ concentrations.