Crystal-field splitting of Pr3+ (4f 2) energy levels in GaN

Abstract

We have calculated the crystal-field splitting of the energy levels of Pr3+ in GaN and have compared these results to an analysis reported recently of the photoluminescence and the cathodoluminescence spectra of Pr3+ implanted in GaN by metal organic chemical vapor deposition on sapphire substrates. The lattice location of Pr in GaN determined recently by the emission channeling technique, provides direct evidence that substitutional Ga sites are thermally stable lattice positions for Pr. The lattice-sum calculations with Pr occupying Ga sites include effective ionic charges, multipole polarizabilities, and structural information also available in the literature. From the calculations, we conclude that the majority of the reported emission spectra is associated with Pr3+ ions in a common site with transitions from excited P30 and P31 states to crystal-field split multiplets, H34 (the ground state), J3J, and G14.