Tunable white light emitting glass suitable for long-wavelength ultraviolet excitation

We report on photoluminescence properties of borosilicate glasses co-doped with Eu2+, Eu3+ and Tb3+ ions. The transparent and colorless glasses have been characterized by measuring the absorption, excitation and emission spectra. The emitting color can be tuned in a wide wavelength range from red to blue by varying the composition of the glass matrix or the melting atmosphere. The combination of red, green and blue emissions of Eu3+, Tb3+, and Eu2+ ions creates white light under long-wavelength ultraviolet (UV) light excitation. By this route, we fabricated a series of white light emitting glasses. Furthermore, the energy transfer process between these rare earth ions has been investigated.