Optical properties of 40ZnO-40P2O5-x(10Li2O-10Nb2O5-0.2Pr3+) glass

Abstract

Zinc phosphate glasses with composition of 40ZnO-40P2O5-x(10Li2O-10Nb2O5-0.2Pr3+) (0 ≤ x ≤ 2.0) were fabricated using melt-quenching technique. The structural and optical properties of the prepared glasses were analyzed using the XRD, UV–vis-NIR absorption, FT-IR spectroscopy and luminescence studies. With increasing x value of the 10Li2O-10Nb2O5-0.2Pr3+ doping content, the glass exhibits deep blue (before x = 1.0) and then yellow (after x = 1.0) in color. The studied glass exhibits strong red emission at 600 nm as well as NIR emission at 1034 nm, ascribed to the Pr3+ transitions of 1D2 → 3H4 and 1D2 → 3F3,4, respectively. The intensity of Pr3+ emission rises with increasing of 10Li2O-10Nb2O5-0.2Pr3+ content in the glass. Upon excitation into the 3P2 level of Pr3+, the luminescence decay curves for Pr3+ red emission show non-monoexponential nature with the average lifetime decreasing from 151.5 to 102.6 μs with x increasing from 0.4 to 2.0. With post heat treatment at 575 °C for different times, the glass 40ZnO-40P2O5-x(10Li2O-10Nb2O5-0.2Pr3+) (x = 1.0) exhibits change in color from 0 to 12 h, and luminescence intensity enhancement from 0 to 1 h.