Complex terbium luminescence centers in spectral transformers based on CaSO4

Abstract

The blue and green terbium luminescence excitation spectra (5–15 eV) at a temperature of 9 or 300 K have been measured for a set of CaSO4 : Tb3+ phosphors with calcium and terbium ions characterized by fundamental features, which were synthesized by the solid-state reaction method with variations in the composition of the raw material, the type of terbium compounds, and the concentration of introduced terbium. A comprehensive analysis of these data, emission spectra, and decay kinetics (with the rising stage) of the terbium luminescence has revealed that the main luminescence centers in an efficient phosphor with 4 at % Tb3+ each contain four closely spaced Tb3+ ions in calcium positions, as well as Na+ ions and hydrogen-containing radicals. In such complex luminescence centers, cooperative nonradiative resonant transitions in neighboring terbium ions leads to a nearly complete concentration of the terbium luminescence in the green spectral region (5D4 → 7FJ). The quantum yield of the green luminescence in CaSO4 : Tb3+ (4 at %) exceeds unity, QY > 1, in the region of direct excitation of Tb3+ into the 5d state (~5.9 eV) or excitation of oxyanions near the terbium ions (~8.1 eV).