Understanding Eu3+ emission spectra in glass

Abstract

The emission spectra of the tripositive lanthanide ion Eu(3+) have often been employed to probe its environment in the solid state, and the intensity ratio of magnetic dipole ((5)D(0)-->(7)F(1)) and forced electric dipole ((5)D(0)-->(7)F(2)) transitions has been used to estimate the "degree of asymmetry" of a crystal site. From the site-selective, low temperature emission spectra of Eu(3+) doped into a glass, a new empirical relation has been found between the width of spectral features and the relative intensity of the (5)D(0)-->(7)F(0) zero phonon line. In order to explain the observations from experiments with excitation at different wavelengths, a generic quantitative relation has been developed from basic theory and validated from our experimental results. This work gives a deeper insight and understanding of the spectral characteristics of Eu(3+) electronic spectra in the visible region.