Optical properties ofNd3+sinNd2BaZnO5s

Abstract

We present an optical investigation of the crystal-field levels of the ${\mathrm{Nd}}^{3+}$ ion in ${\mathrm{Nd}}_{2}$ ${\mathrm{BaZnO}}_{5}$ by a variety of different optical spectroscopic techniques. The complete fine structure of the first multiplets from $^{4}$ ${\mathrm{I}}_{9\mathrm{/}2}$ to $^{4}$ ${\mathrm{F}}_{3\mathrm{/}2}$ was identified using temperature-dependent photoluminescence and far-infrared reflectivity measurements. In addition, absorption measurements, photoluminescence excitation experiments, and photoluminescence self-absorption were used in order to assign levels up to 28 000 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ . The results obtained with independent methods and on different samples are self-consistent. Additional luminescence and absorption lines in the spectra tentatively indicate two different ${\mathrm{Nd}}^{3+}$ sites. A comparison with ${\mathrm{Nd}}_{2}$ ${\mathrm{BaCuO}}_{5}$ is also presented.