Luminescence properties of Pr 3+ in cubic rare earth oxides

Abstract

Luminescence properties of Pr 3+-doped C-type sesquioxides Ln 2O 3 (Ln = Sc, Y, Gd) have been investigated. In cubic Ln 2O 3, the rare earth ion Pr 3+ occupies two different cation sites with site symmetry C 2 and S 6. For all three sesquioxides, pairs of two distinct emission and excitation spectra were recorded. Time-resolved spectroscopy was used to assign the spectra to the two cation sites. In both emission spectra of site C 2 and site S 6, only the electric dipole transition 1 D 2 → 3 H 4 of Pr 3+ was observed. The spectrosc results were correlated with structural data to clarify the luminescence mechanism in cubic rare earth oxides