White light emission and color tunability of dysprosium doped barium silicate glasses

The present work elucidates the synthesis of Dy3+ doped barium silicate glasses, along with the subsequent studies performed to evaluate its viability in solid state lighting applications. The synthesized photonic glasses were investigated via X-Ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. The photoluminescence properties were examined under ultraviolet (UV)/near UV (NUV) excitation. Photoluminescence spectrum exhibited characteristic emission bands at λem=483 nm (blue) and λem=576 nm (yellow) which are ascribed to the 4F9/2→6H15/2 and 4F9/2→6H13/2 transitions of Dy3+ ion, respectively. The chromaticity coordinates under excitation of λex=348 nm are (0.31, 0.34), which lies in the white region of CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram and are in excellent proximity with the standard equal energy white illuminant (0.333, 0.333). The calculated correlated color temperature and the yellow to blue (Y/B) ratio are found to be 6602 K and 1.12, respectively for the optimized sample. The synthesized photonic glass also offered the possibility of tuning the color as exemplified through the variation in CIE coordinates, correlated color temperature and the Y/B ratio. The results confirm the possibility of color tunability from the proposed glass and may be useful for various photonic device applications.