Glass composition and excitation wavelength dependence of the luminescence of Eu3+ doped lead borate glass

This work explores the relationship between the bandwidth of luminescence spectral features and their relative intensities, using glasses doped with europium, Eu3+, over a wide composition range. Glasses of composition (B2O3)70(PbO)29(0.5Eu2O3)1 and (B2O3)z(PbO)99.6-z(0.5Eu2O3)0.4, (z = 20, 30, 40, 60, 70), were prepared by the melting-quenching technique. Variable-wavelength measurements by the prism-coupling method enabled interpolation of refractive index at selected wavelengths. Diffuse reflectance spectra confirmed the incorporation of Eu3+ into the glass, and scanning electron microscopy displayed that this was in a homogeneous manner. Vibrational spectra showed a change in boron coordination from BO3 to BO4 units with increase of PbO content in the glass. Multi-wavelength excited luminescence spectra were recorded for the glasses at temperatures down to 10 K and qualitative interpretations of spectral differences with change of B2O3 content are given. The quantitative analysis of 5D0 luminescence i...