Luminescence and second harmonic generation in Eu3+/Eu2+ embedded B2O3: LiNbO3 non-linear glass-ceramics

Multifunctional europium doped Li2O-Nb2O3-B2O2 glass has been prepared by melt-quench method. Through subsequent heat treatments glass has then been transformed into glass ceramics containing ferroelectric LiNbO3 phase. The glass ceramics have shown enhanced Eu3+ emission compared to parent glass when excited by 266 nm radiation. The emission measurements of glass ceramics have also shown the presence of Eu2+ state along with Eu3+ and Eu2+ state was found to increase when glass was heated in inert atmosphere. Lifetime of the D-5(0) level of the Eu3+ has been measured and a significant increase is found in case of glass ceramic prepared around glass transition temperature. Glass ceramics have also shown good second harmonic generation (SHG) with pulsed 1064 nm laser excitation. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.