Charge transfer effects on the luminescent properties of Eu3+ in oxysulfides

Energy shifts of 4f⁶ states of Eu³⁺ in matrices, and phonon sidebands, linewidths and luminescence decay of Eu³⁺ in Ln₂O₂S (Ln=Lu, Y, Gd and La) have been studied. The charge transfer state (CTS) of Eu³⁺ is described by a model in which a hole is transferred from Eu³⁺ to ligands. Septet states obtained from the 4f⁷(⁸S) + hole configuration of CTS interact with the ⁷F term of the 4f⁶ configuration. This effect causes downward shifts of ⁷F_J states in matrices. Diffuse charge distributions for ⁷F_J states due to the mixing with CTS make the curvatuve of their adiabatic potential curves be smaller than that for ⁵D_J'. Such a difference in the potential curves between ⁷F_J and ⁵D_J' causes broadening of the absorption lines compared with the corresponding emission linewidths in Y₂O₂S. A dynamic Jahn-Teller model is proposed for the concentration-enhanced phonon sidebands accompanying 4f-4f transitions. The vibronics appear only in the excitation spectra and not in the emission spectra. Spectral distributions of the effective density of phonon states are obtained from the observed phonon sidebands for Ln₂O₂S: 5%Eu. The phonon spectra indicate delocalization of the 4f orbitals of Eu³⁺ with increasing the host-cation radius. The observed lifetimes of ⁵D₀ show a decrease in the same order due to decrease in the 4f-CTS mixing.