Inter- and intraconfigurational optical transitions of the Pr 3+ ion for application in lighting and scintillator technologies

Abstract

In this paper, a review of the application of the Pr 3+ inter- and intraconfigurational optical transitions in lighting and scintillator technologies is presented. The possibility of generating more than one visible photon for each incident ultraviolet photon can be realized with the Pr 3+ intraconfigurational emission emanating from the Pr 3+ 1S 0 state. The development of such materials can significantly improve the overall energy conversion of fluorescent lamps. Scintillators based on the intraconfigurational optical transitions emanating from the Pr 3+ 3P 0 state has lead to the development and commercialization of the Gd 2O 2S:Pr 3+ scintillator for application in computed tomography (CT). The development of fast scintillators for positron emission tomography (PET) and security applications can be realized with the efficient Pr 3+ interconfigurational transitions (4f 15d 1→4f 2) in a solid.