Luminescence characteristics of the Pr3+ ion in SrAlF5

The paper reports on a study of luminescence and excitation spectra of SrAlF₅:Pr³⁺ (0.5 mol %) polycrystals performed at 10 and 300 K with synchrotron radiation in the range from 5 to 25 eV. The Pr³⁺ ions in SrAlF₅ were shown to emit successively two photons in transitions from the ¹ S ₀ and ³ P ₀ levels. The main energy characteristics of the compound, namely, the position of the 4f → 5d excitation band (5.95–8.0 eV), the energy separation between the ¹ S ₀, 4f and the lowest 5d levels (～0.15 eV), and the SrAlF₅ band gap width (～12 eV), were determined. SrAlF₅:Pr³⁺ was found to possess a number of features not found in other Pr³⁺-activated fluorides.