RESUMEN
Tb3+ is extensively employed in magneto-optical devices and luminescent materials owing to its distinctive physical properties. However, under certain conditions, trivalent Tb3+ readily undergoes oxidation to tetravalent Tb4+, significantly reducing the performance of devices containing Tb3+. In this Letter, we report a technique called dual-annealing (DA) post-treatment, which effectively solves Tb oxidation issues by utilizing the reducibility of the vacuum environment. High-quality Tb:Y2O3 transparent ceramics were prepared with in-line transmittance of â¼80% at 800â nm. Subsequently, the prepared ceramics were subjected to DA treatment. The optical, photoluminescence, radioluminescence, and x-ray imaging properties of DA samples were comprehensively compared with those of conventionally single-annealed (SA) samples. The coloration of Tb:Y2O3 transparent ceramics due to Tb4+ absorption was eliminated by DA. Notably, the DA sample showed a 3.28-fold increase in photoluminescence intensity and a 2.73-fold increase in radioluminescence intensity compared with the traditional SA sample. DA post-treatment enables Tb: Y2O3 transparent ceramics to achieve x-ray imaging capabilities. This Letter presents a simple, efficient, and universally applicable post-treatment technique expected to replace conventional hydrogen annealing in numerous scenarios.
RESUMEN
In the most promising new window materials, the light-blocking property of the state-of-the-art transparent polycrystalline ceramics is still located in the UV range, which undoubtedly limits their applications. Herein, a transparent Y2Zr2O7:Tb (YZO:Tb) ceramic for light-shielding windows was prepared by a solid-state reaction and vacuum sintering method. Two simple and efficient routes, with doping concentrations varying and air-annealing temperatures regulating, were developed for the first time to control the content of defect clusters [TbY4+-O2--TbY4+] and [TbY4+-eâ¢], enabling the optical cutoff waveband of these ceramics spanning from UV and BV to green light. These defect clusters generated from an air-annealing process were proposed for the relevant reaction mechanisms concerning light erasure behavior. The controllably tailoring of optical cutoff wavelength from Tb single-doped YZO ceramics, adjusted by defect clusters, may open a novel door to develop lanthanide-doped transparent ceramics for wide-range tunable light-shielding windows.
