Trivalent cerium is an important luminescent center giving light emission in short wavelength region depending on host materials. Sol–gel formed silica glass is an ideal matrix due to its high transparency, robustness, and low-temperature processability, but the emission from cerium in silica matrix is often mixed up with that from defects in the matrix, making it difficult to obtain well-determined characteristics. Bright emission from Ce ions peaking at about 400 nm was observed in sol–gel silica glasses synthesized with aluminum co-dopant. From luminescence decay time, the origin was confirmed to be d−f transition in trivalent Ce. From dependence of emission characteristics and UV absorbance on aluminum concentration, it was found that the co-dopant plays an important role to convert the optically inactive tetravalent ions to emissive trivalent state.
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