[en] For the first time thermoluminescence of Lu₂O₃:Tb,Ta ceramics sintered at 1700 °C in different atmospheres – air, forming gas and vacuum – were investigated. Exposure of the materials into the 254 nm radiation of a mercury lamp led to the Tb³⁺ green persistent luminescence of noticeable intensity. Thermoluminescence glow curves revealed two strong thermoluminescence peaks located around 170 °C and 250 °C, with the former being by a factor of ~2–2.5 more intense compared to the latter. T_max-T_stop thermoluminescence experiments revealed that each of these bands is composed of numerous individual, strongly overlapping components of similar characteristics, known as continuous traps distribution. The highest thermoluminescence was observed from the material sintered in vacuum. Those sintered in air or forming gas showed the storage capabilities by about 15–25% lower, though shapes of their glow curves were very similar. A scheme of carriers trapping was proposed with the hole immobilized at Tb³⁺ site and the electron being trapped in the vicinity Ta(V) impurity due to its strong positive net charge in the Lu site.

[en] Photo- thermo- and optically stimulated luminescence properties of Lu₂O₃:Tb,Ta ceramics sintered at 1700 °C in air were investigated. Low temperature (10 K) excitation and emission spectra using synchrotron excitation in the range of 150–330 nm are also discussed. The effect of the dopant contents on the various luminescence effects and processes was tackled. The ceramics showed intense thermoluminescence (TL) and the glow curve consisted of two main peaks around 170 and 250 °C upon 5 °C/s heating rate. The shape of the glow curve and TL intensity depended strongly on the dopant concentrations. Above 0.1% of their contents the TL quickly lessened to disappear around 1%. This was in contrary to photoluminescence which hardly showed any quenching up to the concentration of 1%. In addition to the regular first order TL kinetics some contribution from tunneling and semi-localized transitions was proved.