Spectroscopic Studies of the Behavior of Eu3+on the Luminescence of Cadmium Tellurite Glasses

The effect of europium doping on the photoluminescence of ZnO-CdO-TeO2glasses is analyzed. TeO2-based glasses are of high interest as hosts for laser glasses. The Eu-doped oxide glasses were prepared by the conventional melt-quenching method. Five different concentrations of europium nitrate hexahydrate that varied from 0.3 to 1.5 mol% were used. SEM observations revealed the formation of zinc aluminate spinel and disperse droplets of liquid-liquid phase separation in the glasses. X-Ray diffraction reveals the amorphous structure of the fabricated glasses. FT-IR and Raman spectra show the presence of TeO4and TeO3+1/TeO3units that conform with the glass matrix. Raman spectra evidenced a band located at 1556 cm−1that can be related to interstitial molecular oxygen in the glass matrix. Photoluminescence of the glasses showed light emission due to the following europiumtransitions from itsD52,D51, andD50levels to itsF7Jmanifolds:D52→F70(468 nm),D52→F72(490 nm),D52→F73(511 nm),D51→F71(536 nm),D51→F72(554 nm),D50→F70(579.5 nm),D50→F71(592 nm),D50→F72(613 nm),D50→F73(652 nm), andD50→F74(490 nm). The estimated decay time,τ, was 0.4 ms for all the glasses.