Dy³⁺‐, Sm³⁺‐, Ce³⁺‐ and Tb³⁺‐activated optical properties of microcrystalline BaMgP₂O₇ phosphors

Abstract

Abstract Photoluminescence (PL) and thermoluminescence (TL) properties of rare earth (RE) ion (RE = Dy 3 + , Sm 3 + , Ce 3 + , Tb 3 + ) activated microcrystalline BaMgP 2 O 7 phosphors are presented in this work. Non‐doped and doped samples of BaMgP 2 O 7 were prepared using a solid state diffusion method and characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), PL and TL. The XRD measurement confirmed the phase purity of the BaMgP 2 O 7 host matrix. The average particle size was found through SEM measurement to be around 2 μm. All activators using the PL technique displayed characteristic excitation and emission spectra that corresponded to their typical f → f and f → d transitions respectively. Thermoluminescence measurements showed that BaMgP 2 O 7 :RE (RE = Dy 3 + , Sm 3 + , Tb 3 + , Ce 3 + ) and co‐doped BaMgP 2 O 7 :Ce 3 + ,Tb 3 + phosphors have also TL behaviour.