Eur. Phys. J. D 19, 275-291 (2002)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e20020096

A spectroscopic investigation of Y₃Al₅O₁₂:Pr³⁺ in translucent ceramic form: Crystal field analysis assisted by configuration-interaction

¹ Structures, Propriétés et Modélisation des Solides (UMR 8580 du CNRS) , École Centrale Paris, 92295 Châtenay-Malabry Cedex, France
² Science des Procédés Céramiques et de Traitements de Surfaces (UMR 6638 du CNRS) , Faculté des Sciences de Limoges, 123 avenue Albert Thomas, 87060 Limoges Cedex, France
³ THALES, Research & Technology, domaine de Corbeville, 91404 Orsay Cedex, France

Corresponding author: ^a faucher@spms.ecp.fr

Received: 9 November 2001
Revised: 8 February 2002
Published online: 15 June 2002

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation of Pr³⁺ doped in the D₂ site of Y₃Al₅O₁₂ (YAG), for the first time on a translucent ceramic sample free of spurious phases, impurity or pair sites. The optical study is carried out by optical absorption, excitation, and emission by selective excitation into ¹D₂ and ³P₀, at different temperatures between 20 K and 60 K, in the 4 300–23 000 cm^-1 range. A detailed account of the line assignments is given. 67 over 91 levels of the 4f² configuration are determined. Several crystal field calculations within the ground configuration 4f² and the larger matrix are carried out. The energy level fit is slightly improved by configuration interaction. The ³P₂ and ¹I₆ levels are strongly mixed together by the large 6th order crystal field parameters. In sintered samples with different Pr³⁺ concentrations, satellite lines with intensities increasing quadratically with the concentration are observed. A few weak lines forbidden in D₂ site symmetry are observed.