Decolorization, spectral broadening, and luminescence enhancement in Tb:Y2O3 transparent ceramics through vacuum thermal reduction

Tb 3+ is extensively employed in magneto-optical devices and luminescent materials owing to its distinctive physical properties. However, under certain conditions, trivalent Tb 3+ readily undergoes oxidation to tetravalent Tb 4+ , significantly reducing the performance of devices containing Tb 3+ . 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:Y 2 O 3 transparent ceramics were prepared with in-line transmittance of ∼80% at 800 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:Y 2 O 3 transparent ceramics due to Tb 4+ 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: Y 2 O 3 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.