Abstract
The lowest ultraviolet absorption band of eleven (Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb) of the fourteen trivalent rare-earth (RE) ions in host Ca crystals has been measured. The room temperature absorption cross section [] and half-width [] of these bands for the first-half series of are larger than that of the second-half series (from on), possibly because of some spin-forbiddenness in the transition of the latter. Typically, they are ∼5× and ∼1700 , respectively, for the former and ∼3× and ∼1300 , respectively, for the latter at typical concentration of ∼. The oscillator strength is estimated to be ∼ for the first half-series and ∼4× for the second half-series . At liquid nitrogen temperature the band sharpens and shifts ∼200 toward lower wave number, probably because of increasing crystal field in the contracted lattice; a zero-phonon line and some vibrational structure are also developed in -and -doped Ca. The location of the band ranges from ∼33 000 () to ∼71 000 (), with that of and outside (≳80 000 ) of the transparent region of Ca crystal. Compared with the data available for the free ions , , and , the location of the lowest transition of ions in Ca is found to be lowered ∼18 000 in the crystal environment. The energy of the lowest transition is described satisfactorily by a formula due to Jørgensen for transitions in the free ion, decreased by 18 000 .
- Received 20 January 1966
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.147.332
©1966 American Physical Society