Site-selective excitation and polarized absorption and emission spectra of trivalent thulium and erbium in strontium fluorapatite

Polarized fluorescence spectra produced by site-selective excitation, and conventional polarized absorption spectra were obtained for Tm3+ and Er3+ ions individually incorporated into single crystals of strontium fluorapatite, Sr5(PO4)3F, also known as SFAP. Substitution of the trivalent rare earth ion for divalent strontium was achieved by passive charge compensation during Czochralski growth of the fluorapatite crystals. Spectra were obtained between 1780 and 345 nm at temperatures from 4 K to room temperature on crystals having the hexagonal structure [P63/m(C6h2)]. The polarized fluorescence spectra due to transitions from multiplet manifolds of Tm3+(4f12), including 1D2, 1G4, and 3H4 to manifolds 3H6 (the ground-state manifold), 3F4, 3H5, 3H4, and 3F3 were analyzed for the details of the crystal-field splitting of the manifolds. Fluorescence lifetimes were measured for Tm3+ transitions from 1D2, 1G4, and 3H4 at room temperature and from 1G4 at 16 K. Results of the analysis indicate that the majority ...