Luminescence and energy transfer properties of Gd³⁺ and Dy³⁺ in borosilicate glasses for tunable emission materials

This work investigates the physical, optical, luminescence, and scintillation properties of borosilicate glasses doped with different concentrations of Gd₂O₃ and Dy₂O₃. All glasses were prepared by the melt quenching technique. The density and molar volume value increase as the Gd₂O₃ and Dy₂O₃ content increases. Dy³⁺ in glasses absorb photons in visible light and near-infrared regions, confirmed by the absorption spectra. The emission spectra of glasses show two strong peaks at 575 nm (⁴F_9/2→⁶H_13/2) and 481 nm (⁴F_9/2→⁶H_15/2) under Gd³⁺, direct Dy³⁺ and X-ray excitation. The integral scintillation efficiency of 1.50Dy:12.5Gd is 7.22%, compared with BGO crystal. The luminescence of glass can be tuned for different shades of white emission by selecting the excitation source such as photon with 275 nm, 387 nm and X-ray, respectively. The developed glasses are the potential for tunable emitting and scintillation material applications.