Vacuum Ultraviolet Excitation of Rare-Earth ion Luminescence in Strontium Fluoride Crystals

The photoexcitation spectra (70-280 nm) of the Eu 3+, Tb 3+, Dy 3+, Er 3+, and Tm 3+ ion luminescence in strontium fluoride crystals are studied at 8 and 295 K by vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopy using synchrotron-radiation excitation. The processes of transfer of the excitation energy to the impurity centers as well as the relaxation mechanisms of the excited high-energy states of the rare-earth ions are analyzed. The bands corresponding to the interconfiguration 4f-5d transitions and the charge-transfer bands are identified in the photoexcitation luminescence spectra. ©2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.The present work was supported in part by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Grant 05-02-16530), by the Program “Russian Universities” (Grant UR.02.01.433), by REC-005 (ЕК-005-XI), and BMBF (05KS8GMD/1)