Structure, nucleation and Eu luminescence in alkaline earth rare earth borate glass

In La₂O₃-MO-B₂O₃ ternary system, various glasses/ glass ceramics with M=Ca, Sr and Ba have been prepared. In this ternary system, homogeneous nucleation occuring in the B₂O₃ melt appears to be the cause for the formation of nanocrystallites, hence glass ceramics. The nucleation process is very much dependent on the alkaline earth used viz., with smaller alkaline earths like Ca, boron prefers (BO₄)⁵⁻ tetrahedral coordination with oxygen, while in the case of bigger alkaline earths like Ba and Sr, (BO₃)³⁻ triangular coordination seems to be predominant. Eu³⁺ in this glass system yields intense ⁵D₀→⁷F_j emission. A cursory view on the dependence of the various Judd-Ofelt parameters (Ω_k) indicates that Ω₂ parameter is very much dependent on the immediate vicinity of the luminescent ion (Eu³⁺) while Ω₄ is not. Various results based on these are discussed.