Luminescence investigations of rare earth doped lead-free borate glasses modified by MO (M = Ca, Sr, Ba)

• Luminescence of Ln3+-doped borate glasses was presented and discussed.
• Effect of glass modifiers on spectroscopic properties of rare earths was studied.
• Measured luminescence lifetimes of Ln3+ (Ln = Eu, Er, Pr) were analyzed.
• Luminescence intensity ratios R/O (Eu3+) were determined.

Series of lead-free borate glasses with different oxide modifiers and lanthanide ions were prepared. The effect of oxide modifiers MO (M = Ca, Sr, Ba) on spectroscopic properties of trivalent Ln3+ (Ln = Eu, Er, Pr) were systematically investigated. Especially, the luminescence spectra of Ln3+-doped lead-free borate glasses are presented and discussed in relation to the impact of selective components (CaO, SrO and BaO). Several spectroscopic parameters, such as the fluorescence intensity ratio R/O (Eu3+) and measured luminescence lifetimes for the 5D0 (Eu3+), 4I13/2 (Er3+) and 1D2 (Pr3+) excited states of lanthanide ions were analyzed in details. The research proved that spectroscopic properties of trivalent Ln3+ depend significantly on kind of presence oxide modifiers MO (M = Ca, Sr, Ba) in glass host matrices.