Effects of pressure on optical F-bands in rubidium halides

High pressure optical absorption measurements have been made on additively colored RbCl and RbBr at pressures up to 10 kbar and on electrolytically colored Rbl up to 4 kbar. The pressure dependence of the F-band produced in RbCl by x-irradiation in the s.c. phase is also reported. Effects of the pressure induced structure transformation in these salts are described. F-band pressure shifts are related to a semi-empirical treatment which takes account of relative ion sizes. A new Ivey law for F-centers in host crystals having the s.c. structure is presented. This relation is established using all available F-band data including those for salts transformed to the s.c. structure by the application of high pressure.