Radio, cathodo and photoluminescence investigations of high density WO₃-Gd₂O₃-B₂O₃ glass doped with Tb³⁺

The Tb³⁺ doped tungsten-gadolinium-borate glasses (WGB:Tb) were prepared by the melt-quenching technique with different Tb₂O₃ concentration (0.0, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mol%). Properties of glasses were characterized by such techniques as Archimedes´ method, XRD, absorption spectroscopy, various types of luminescence spectroscopy and decay curves. Glass performs the enhanced compaction with increment of Tb₂O₃ content. XRD pattern represents the amorphous nature of glass system. Tb³⁺ in glass absorbs photons in visible light and near infrared region. The strong green emission around 544 nm via ⁵D₄ → ⁷F₅ transition of Tb³⁺ were generated under three types of excitation such as ultraviolet–visible light (photoluminescence), X-ray (radioluminescence) and electron (cathodoluminescence). The Gd³⁺ - Tb³⁺ energy transfer plays an important role for strong green emission of glass. The intensity of this luminescence increases with increment of Tb₂O₃ concentration. All luminescence decay curves represent in the forms of non-single/multi-component exponential functions. The values of all decay time are in the order of millisecond. Moreover, the emission intensity of Tb³⁺ reduced with temperature increment (thermal quenching) proved by the temperature-dependent luminescence. In this work, the WGB:Tb glass doped with 2.0 mol% of Tb₂O₃ is a versatile glass. It is suitable and can be developed for using as a photonic materials in the green light source, laser, display/screen, X-ray detector and scanning/transmission electron microscope.