This paper reports the optical analysis of terbium-doped zinc boro-silicate glasses from the measurement of photoluminescence spectra and lifetimes of the emission transitions. Dependence of fluorescence performance on the terbium ion concentration has been examined. Physical and non-linearity properties have also been investigated based on the refractive indices (n C , n d , n F ) obtained at three different wavelengths (λ C =656.3 nm, λ d =589.3 nm, λ F =486.1 nm). Stimulated emission cross-sections (σ p E ) for the measured emission peaks of terbium glass are also reported here.