Luminescence and scintillation properties of CuO-doped SiO2–B2O3–La2O3 glass

Abstract

A CuO-doped SiO2–B2O3–La2O3 glass system was prepared through high-temperature melting and the Si powders were used as reducing agent to reduce Cu2+ to Cu+. The spectral properties, electron paramagnetic resonance spectra, and scintillation luminescence under X-ray irradiation were measured. The Cu+ ions in the borosilicate glasses exhibited both luminescent centers under ultraviolet light excitation, which are isolated Cu+ ions and Cu+–Cu+ ion pairs, respectively. There is an energy transfer process from isolated Cu+ ions to Cu+-Cu+ ion pairs, which strongly affects radioluminescence. The luminescent intensity of the Cu+–Cu+ ion pairs became increasingly apparent with the increase in CuO doping concentration, and the optimum concentration was 0.4 mol% for the photoluminescence and radioluminescence.