Photoluminescence Characterization of Sm3+ -Doped Fluoroborate Ceramics

Sm3+ -doped fluoroborate ceramics (BaO-ZnO-Al2O3-B2O3-NaF) were fabricated as a potential material in illumination and display. The density, surface modality, microstructure and fluorescence were measured and characterized. The ceramics were well densified without pores and they were proved to be amorphous. Under blue and UV light excitations, the opaque fluoroborate ceramics doped with Sm3+ absorbed the most of excitation radiation and emited intense reddish orange light. The emission spectrum of Sm3+ -doped fluoroborate ceramics under 404 nm excitation consisted of four intense emission bands peaking at 564, 600, 645 and 708 nm, respectively, and the 600 nm reddish-orange emission band was the most intense. Excitation and emission spectra indicated that commercial UV and blue laser diodes, blue and bluish-green LEDs and Ar+ optical laser were powerful pumping sources for the fluoroborate ceramics. The rare earth doped ceramics with various visible emissions were useful for developing new color light sources, fluorescent display devices and UV sensors.