Fabrication and luminescent properties of Sm-doped Gd2Zr2O7 transparent ceramics

In this study, Sm-doped Gd2Zr2O7 transparent ceramics were successfully prepared by high temperature vacuum sintering using combustion synthesized nanopowders. X-ray diffraction, solid ultraviolet absorption spectrophotometer and fluorescence spectrometer were employed to investigate the structural evolution and photoluminescence properties of as-prepared samples. The Sm-doped Gd2Zr2O7 nanopowders are in defective fluorite structure, which transforms into pyrochlore structure after high temperature sintering. The 3% Sm-doped sample exhibits high in-line transmittance of 74.7% at the wavelength of 1000 nm. The fluorescence lifetimes of all samples excited at 404 nm and detected at 615 nm are in millisecond scale, and the concentration quenching occurs when the Sm doping concentration reaches to 10%.