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 OH 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 (Ω2,4,6) 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.