Luminescence and energy transfer of Ce3+/Tb3+ ions in barium–gadolinium–aluminum borosilicate glasses

Abstract Ce 3 + –doped, Tb 3 + –doped and (Ce 3 + , Tb 3 + )–codoped BaO–Gd 2 O 3 –Al 2 O 3 –B 2 O 3 –SiO 2 glasses were prepared by high temperature melting method and their luminescence properties have been investigated under UV excitation. Ce 3 + –doped borosilicate glass has a strong purplish–blue emission with the maximum about at 399 nm. Tb 3 + –doped borosilicate glass shows bright green emission at about 545 nm. (Ce 3 + , Tb 3 + )–codoped borosilicate glasses present a broad band emission ranging from 350 to 475 nm except emitting light at about 490, 545, 588 and 624 nm. There is an effective energy transfer from Ce 3 + ion to Tb 3 + ion and Ce 3 + ion strongly sensitizes the luminescence of Tb 3 + ion in (Ce 3 + , Tb 3 + )–codoped borosilicate glasses. A fast luminescence decay time of Tb 3 + ion is in an order of ms in (Ce 3 + , Tb 3 + )–codoped borosilicate glasses, which indicates it could be useful for X–ray detection for slow event.