Chemical behavior and spectroscopic properties of rare earth borates in glazes

Efficient Near UV excited materials (350<λ<400 nm) responding with green line emission are sparse in comparison to higher energy UV excited emitters (λ<350 nm), while corresponding red line emitters are more abundant, albeit typically also restricted to excitation wavelengths below 400 nm. This situation is disadvantageous for several important actual and potential applications. Among these, excitation with high power UV-LEDs and laser diodes are of particular interest. Here we present results on green emitting YBO3:Ce, Tb, which can be excited with 370-380 nm radiation at quantum efficiencies of up to 60% and decay times in excess of 2 ms. Moreover, as powderous phosphors typically require stable matrices to be hosted in, we investigated low melting, lead- and fluoride-free glasses for their capability to accommodate the phosphor and yet retain its optical properties. In these, we even observed an increase of the quantum efficiencies of up to 70% at decay times approaching 3 ms. Finally, we characterized the thermal quenching behavior, which showed a clear advantage of the phosphors in glassy matrices.