Time-resolved and fluorescence excitation-emission matrix measurements of lanthanide (Gd³⁺, Tb³⁺ and Dy³⁺) doped silver-zinc borate glasses

This paper reports the time-resolved luminescence and excitation-emission matrix measurements of three different lanthanide ions Gadolinium, Gd³⁺ (GdG), Terbium, Tb³⁺ (TbG) and Dysprosium, Dy³⁺(DyG) doped silver-zinc borate glasses. The GdG and TbG glasses were excited at 267 nm and 371 nm, respectively, and time-resolved luminescence measurements used to evaluate how the randomness of the network can influence the lanthanide ion emission. The GdG glass exhibited ultraviolet radiation (UVR) at around 310 nm with a ⁶P_7/2 → ⁸S_7/2 transition. Similarly, a sharp band at 545 nm with a ⁵D₄ → ⁷F₅ transition provided a bright green coloured emission from the TbG glass. To further elucidate the Dy³⁺ emission, steady-state luminescence (SSL), excitation-emission matrix (EEM) studies and decay associated spectra (DAS) were obtained. These showed a bright yellow emission transition (⁴F_7/2 →⁶H_9/2), 571 nm composed of species with decay times of 0.062, 0.148, 0.337 and 0.701 ms. Among them, an ideal decay time was observed at 0.701 ms along with a dependency of the DyG glass lifetimes on the emission intensity.