Radioluminescence characteristics of Eu₂O₃ ions activated CaO/CaF₂ + La₂O₃ + P₂O₅ scintillating glasses

The novelty of this research is to prepare phosphate glasses (10CaO/CaF₂ + 20La₂O₃ + 69P₂O₅) with the effect of 1 mol% Eu₂O₃ and the incorporation of 10 mol% CaO (or) CaF₂, focusing attention on their structural and optical features, together with their influence in the ultimate scintillation spectral response. When CaO (oxide, OE glass) content is replaced by CaF₂ (fluoride, FE glass), changes in density and molar volume measurements are observed, including a decrease in the bands of O[sbnd]H groups in the IR spectral range (2500–4000 cm⁻¹). The results of the optical absorption (OA) of glasses showed various peaks in the ranges of 350–600 nm (UV–Visible) and 1800–2400 nm (NIR). The phonon energies of the OE (1219 cm⁻¹) and FE (1210 cm⁻¹) glasses from the Raman spectra are in good agreement with the value (1222 cm⁻¹) obtained from the excitation (PLE) spectra (⁷F₀ →⁵D₂) of Eu³⁺ ions. From the emission (PL) spectra of glasses, the surrounding environment of Eu³⁺ ions is evaluated with respect to (Ω_2,4,6) intensity parameters and asymmetric (R/O) ratio. Moreover, the OE and FE glasses emit the highest red-emitting ⁵D₀ → ⁷F₂ transition (∼612 nm) under UV light and X-ray radiations. The decay time due to Eu³⁺ emission is 2.217 ms for OE glass and 2.329 ms for FE glass. In addition, spectroscopic parameters and (x, y) color coordinates are calculated for both glasses fabricated in this work. Furthermore, temperature-dependent luminescence was studied from 10 K to 550 K and found to high in FE glass. The integrated scintillation efficiencies of OE and FE glasses are about 17 % and 18 % of commercial BGO scintillating crystal.