Photoluminescence of zircon (ZrSiO4) doped with REE3+ (REE = Pr, Sm, Eu, Gd, Dy, Ho, Er)

The photoluminescence properties of synthetic zircon, ZrSiO4, doped with REE3+ (REE = Pr, Sm, Eu, Gd, Dy, Ho, Er) were investigated using combined excitation and emission spectroscopy. All samples showed luminescence characteristics of intra-ion energy transitions, similar to other lanthanide-doped materials. However, the relative intensities were dependent on the energy of excitation and the presence of charge-transfer bands were inferred from excitation spectra. From the data, we conclude that the lanthanides in zircon occur in more than one type of coordination. Energy transfer between different lanthanides was observed in some co-doped samples and emissions that were unassigned in previous studies have been assigned to specific lanthanides based on excitation spectroscopy.