[Luminescence of Eu3+ ions in nanocrystalline zirconia]

Zirconia doped with 1 mol% Eu3+ and annealed at 600, 800 and 1 000 degrees C and zirconia doped with 1 mol%, 3 mol%, 5 mol% Eu3+ and annealed at 800 degrees C were prepared by co-precipitation method; luminescence of Eu3+ ions was investigated under 394 nm excitation, and the emission of 5D0 -->7F2 was peaked at 604 nm in zirconia annealed at 600 and 800 degrees C, however, peaked at 610 nm in the sample annealed at 1 000 degrees C. By studying omega2 of 5 D0 --> 7F2, the authors found that omega2 increased with increasing annealing temperature. When monitored with 604 nm, the authors found that the contribution of population of 5L6 level to the luminescence of 5D0 --> 7F2 increased with increasing annealing temperature. By investigating the luminescence in the samples doped with 1 mol%, 3 mol% and 5 mol% Eu3+ ions, we found that the emission of 5D0 --> 7F1 transition for the sample doped with 3 mol% Eu3+ ions was a broad band peaked at 597 nm.