Spectroscopic properties of Ce3+/Tb3 co-doped high silica scintillating glass

Ce3+/Tb3+ co-doped high silica scintillating glasses were prepared by sintering porous glasses in CO reducing atmosphere. The uniformly distributed nanopores in the prepared glass are quite suitable for absorbing Tb3+ and Ce3+ ions due to large specific surface. The main mechanism of absorbing of Tb3+ and Ce3+ in high silica glass was hydrogen bonds. The calculated doping concentration of Ce3+ in the glass is agreed with measured densities, excitation spectrum as well as emission spectrum at room temperature. The emission spectrum proves that the intensity of Tb3+ could be enhanced by Ce3+, and specially the intensity of highest peaks at 543 nm have been increased to 10 times stronger than those without Ce3+. Moreover, with the Ce3+ concentration increased to 0.2 mol/L, the luminescence intensity increased to a maximum and then decreased due to the concentration quenching of Ce3+. The process of energy transfer between Ce3+ and Tb3+ and the concentration quenching were analyzed thoroughly in high silica glass.