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We have developed a new terbium-doped, lithium-loaded scintillating glass for slow neutron detection. This glass has the advantages of an emission spectrum with a maximum at 550 nm and of being drawn easily into optical fibers for the fabrication of scintillating optical fiber plates.

A new set of soda-lime alumino silicate (SLAS) glasses doped with a fixed percentage of Er3+ and different percentages of Yb3+ ions was produced by conventional melting process. Their spectroscopic properties, namely absorption and emission spectra, radiative and experimental lifetimes, were measured and are discussed here. Planar and channel optical waveguides were produced in these glasses by ion-exchange, and their characterization is reported as well.

Optical characterization of scintillating phosphate and silicates glasses is presented including absorption, emission spectra and decay kinetics. A new concept of energy transfer sensitization is developed, based on nearly resonant energy migration through a rare earth ion subsystem (Gd 3+ ions at sufficiently high concentration) in the glass matrix, followed by a single-step transfer towards the emission centers created by Ce 3+ or Tb 3+ doping. While Ce 3+ doping in phosphates results in emission spectra in the near UV-violet, the Tb 3+ doping in silicates gives a four-band spectrum with a dominating one at 545 nm. Intense UV irradiation produces a reduction of emission intensity in phosphate glasses.

Ultrathin blown glasses, owing to the very high cooling rate, have an open structure, characterized by lower hardness and higher deformability, and no tempering residual stresses. In these glasses, due to their high densificability, the threshold load for crack nucleation is higher than in air-cooled plates, and it is also above the values estimated by present theoretical formulations.