Influence of mechanochemical processing to luminescence properties in Y2O3 powder

In high purity Y2O3 powders presence of small amount of erbium ions in cation sites was identified due to the luminescence bands observed by Raman spectrometer. The decrease of the luminescence intensity during high-energy ball-milling was explained. The mechanochemical processing induced the changes of Y2O3 microstructure introducing distortion of the crystal lattice and oxygen vacancies in the cubic phase, substitution of tungsten at the cation sites in c-Y2O3, and incomplete phase transition of Y2O3 from the cubic to the monoclinic structure. The influence of the particle-size decrease, caused by ball-milling, to luminescence was also considered.