Effects of densification on fluorescence spectra and glass structure of Eu3+-doped borate glasses

Abstract
Densified glass specimens of 90 B2O3⋅10 Na2O⋅1 Eu2O3 were obtained by applying hydrostatic pressure up to 6 GPa at various temperatures from 250 to 900 °C, and their densities and inhomogeneous bandwidths of Eu3+ fluorescence spectra were determined in order to follow a structural change taking place during densification. The results indicate that the role of hydrostatic pressure is first to eliminate the atomic scale voids usually appearing when quenched from high temperatures and then to increase the fluctuation of local fields around Eu3+ probably due to the distortion of glass network accompanied with a wide variation of bond length. The molecular dynamics simulation of the densified state was also carried out to support the above conclusion.