Characteristics of photoluminescence, thermoluminescence and thermal degradation in Eu-doped BaMgAl10O17 and SrMgAl10O17

The relation between photoluminescence and thermoluminescence from Eu-doped BAM (BaMgAl10O17) and SAM (SrMgAl10O17) are investigated. The emission peak of SAM:Eu shifts from 463 to 489 nm whereas that of BAM:Eu only shifts 3 nm at 450 nm as temperature decreased from 300 to 50 K under 146 nm excitation. This can be explained by the fact that there are Beevers-Ross (BR) and mid-oxygen (mO) sites for Eu ions in SAM. The emission peak around 463 nm from SAM: Eu is ascribed to Eu ions in the mO site, while the peak around 489 nm is ascribed to ones in the BR site in SAM host. From the result of thermal degradation of SAM:Eu, it is confirmed that the Eu ions located at mO site are easy to degrade compared with those located at BR site. The thermal degradation of BAM:Eu phosphor becomes large with the increase in Eu concentration. We suggest that the thermal degradation of BAM:Eu phosphor is due to the tendency of Eu ions to occupy the mO site. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.