Site selective optical spectroscopy of Pr3+ in CsGd2F7

With the purpose of determining luminescence properties of lanthanide ions occupying different crystallographic sites in a same host, a new CsGd2F7 : Pr3+ crystal was optically characterized for the first time. Experimental data have shown that in CsGd2F7 doped with 2.0 at% Pr3+, there are five Gd3+crystallographic sites which are substituted by Pr3+. Under site-selective excitation at 12 K, luminescence spectra of Pr3+ ions in the five sites are distinctly discriminated. The energies of the 3P0 states for Pr3+ in those sites are 20,889, 20,879, 20,873, 20,838 and 20,818 cm−1. Lifetimes of Pr3+ ion radiative levels for the different sites are also presented and analyzed.