Effects of the Eu3+ concentration on the structural, optical and morphological properties of cubic Gd2O3 nanostructured thin films

Abstract

Nanostructured Gd2O3: Eu3+ thin films were prepared by pulsed laser ablation technique. The dependence of structural, morphological and optical properties of these films on photoluminescence was systematically studied by varying the Eu3+ incorporation concentration. Micro-Raman and XRD analysis indicate that Eu3+ incorporation strongly perturbs the cubic Gd2O3 structure and suppresses the grain growth. For 0.10 mol Eu3+ doped Gd 2O3 films deposited under a vacuum of 10-6 mbar when subjected to annealing at 1173 K give transparent films exhibiting intense photoemission at 612 nm due to 5D0-7F 2 transition. The Eu3+ incorporation concentration above 10 mol %, decreased the luminance intensity may be due to concentration quenching effect. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.