Journal of Luminescence 177 (2016) 254–260

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The d–f luminescence of Eu2 þ , Ce3 þ and Yb2 þ ions in Cs2MP2O7(M ¼ Ca2 þ , Sr2 þ )Tim Senden a,n, Andries Meijerink aaCondensed Matter and Interfaces, Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80 000, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands

art ic l e i nf o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 22 February 2016
Accepted 29 April 2016
Available online 5 May 2016

The efﬁcient narrow band emission of Eu2 þ in Cs2MP2O7 (M ¼ Ca2 þ , Sr2 þ ) is characterized by a large
Stokes shift and a high quenching temperature which makes the material promising for application inwarm white LEDs. The unusual Eu2 þ luminescence properties were reported recently but an explanation
for the peculiar behavior is lacking. In this paper we aim at providing new insights in the luminescence of
the Eu2 þ emission in Cs2MP2O7 through measurements at cryogenic temperatures (down to 4 K) and bycomparison with the d–f luminescence of Ce3 þ and Yb2 þ in the same host. The results reveal a sharp
onset of the Eu2 þ emission and excitation bands at 4 K. Usually the sharp onset for narrow excitation andemission bands coincide at an energy corresponding to the zero-phonon (purely electronic) transition,
but for Eu2 þ in Cs2MP2O7 there is a large shift of 3500 cm  1 between the onsets, consistent with thelarge Stokes shift observed. The onset shift can be explained by emission from a lower energy distorted
excited 4f 65d1 state. For Ce3 þ , the f–d absorption bands are at energies expected based on the relation
between the absorption energies for Eu2 þ and Ce3 þ reported by Dorenbos. Contrary to Eu2 þ , theemission for Ce3 þ shows a normal Stokes shift and therefore the emission bands are at much higher
energies than predicted from the energy of the Eu2 þ emission and the Dorenbos relations. Based on thepresent results the unusually large Stokes shift for the Eu2 þ emission in Cs2MP2O7 is assigned to a Jahn–
Teller like deformation in the excited 4f 65d1 state of Eu2 þ that is not present in the 5d state of Ce3 þ .
& 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Cs2MP2O7 (M ¼ Ca2 þ , Sr2 þ )Lanthanide d–f luminescence
Stokes shift
Jahn-Teller deformation

1. Introduction
The optical properties of the Eu2 þ ion (4f7) have been thoroughly investigated [1–5] and the efﬁcient luminescence of Eu2 þis widely applied, e.g. in ﬂuorescent tubes, white light LEDs
(wLEDs), displays, scintillators and anti-counterfeiting labels[6–10]. The emission and absorption spectra of Eu2 þ are characterized by broad absorption and emission bands corresponding
to transitions between the 4f7 ground state and the 4f 65d1 excitedstates. The energy level structure in the 4f 65d1 excited state isstrongly inﬂuenced by covalency and crystal ﬁeld splitting [8]. As aresult, the d–f emission of Eu2 þ can vary from the ultraviolet to
the red spectral region, depending on the host lattice.
In phosphates Eu2 þ ions typically show a violet or blue
emission and emission wavelengths between 375 nm (for Ba(PO3)2:Eu2 þ ) and 505 nm (for NaCaPO4:Eu2 þ ) have been reported [1]. However, recently an unusual red Eu2 þ emission wasreported for a Eu2 þ -doped phosphate. In Cs2CaP2O7 the d–f
emission of Eu2 þ is around 600 nm, while the absorption is in thenCorresponding author.
E-mail address: t.senden@uu.nl (T. Senden).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jlumin.2016.04.050
0022-2313/& 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

usual blue-ultraviolet spectral region [11]. As a result, the Stokes
shift of the emission is very large ðΔS 4 6000 cm  1 Þ. The emission is further characterized by a high quantum yield and a highquenching temperature ðT 0:5  600 KÞ, which is unexpected in
combination with a large Stokes shift [8]. The special opticalproperties make Cs2CaP2O7:Eu2 þ promising as a red emitting
phosphor in warm white LEDs, where a narrow band red emission is required to reduce efﬁciency loss that is inherent to theuse of broad band red emitters. Broad band red emitters that areused to shift the color temperature of wLEDs into the desired
warm white spectral region have a signiﬁcant part of theiremission between 630 and 700 nm where the eye sensitivity islow. This reduces the lumen/W efﬁciency [9].
The large Stokes shift and narrow band emission reported forEu2 þ in Cs2MP2O7 (M ¼ Ca2 þ , Sr2 þ ) were discussed by Srivastava
em
et al. [11]. Based on the narrow band emission (Γ  2000 cm  1
at 80 K), normal emission lifetime ðτ  1 μsÞ and high quenchingtemperature ðT 0:5  600 KÞ it was concluded that the large Stokes
shift cannot be explained by anomalous emission from an Eutrapped exciton state. In the past large Stokes shifts for Eu2 þemission have been explained by a trapped exciton emission, but
in addition to a large Stokes shift, this emission is characterized
by a large spectral width, longer lifetime and low quenching

T. Senden, A. Meijerink / Journal of Luminescence 177 (2016) 254–260

eg (5d)x2-y2

2. Experimental

z2

10 Dq

xy

xz

yz

E

t2g (5d)255

Latticedeformation

8S
7
7/2 (4f )Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the Eu2 þ energy level scheme in (a) octahedraland (b) strongly deformed conﬁguration.

temperature [2]. Clearly, these characteristics are not observed
for the Eu2 þ emission in Cs2MP2O7. An alternative explanationthat was suggested in Refs. [11,12] involves distortions in the
4f 65d1 excited state. In Cs2MP2O7 the Eu2 þ ion is in an octahedral
coordination. In Fig. 1 the crystal ﬁeld splitting in Oh symmetry is
illustrated. In the excited 5d state a, for example, tetragonal
deformation can lower the energy of the lowest 4f 65d1 state as
illustrated in Fig. 1. Emission from the lowest 4f 65d1 state will beshifted to a lower energy and can explain the large Stokes shift.
Substantial lattice deformations in the 5d excited state havepreviously been shown to give rise to large Stokes shifts ðΔS 4
5000 cm  1 Þ for d–f emission of Ce3 þ in halides [13–16]. As an
example, for LaCl3:Ce3 þ ðΔS ¼ 5800 cm  1 Þ it was found with abinitio calculations that in the excited 5d1 conﬁguration there is anoff-center movement of the Ce3 þ ion, which is accompanied by astrong deformation of the ligand prism around the Ce3 þ ion [14].
Due to this deformation the crystal ﬁeld splitting almost doubles,
resulting in a very large Stokes shift. The results also explained
why the concentrated system CeCl3, despite having the same
crystal structure as LaCl3, had a very small Stokes shift of only
900 cm  1. It was found that in CeCl3 the more stable off-centerCe3 þ position is already occupied in the ground state 4f1 conﬁguration, resulting in a small Stokes shift. It was determined thatthe off-center movement of the Ce3 þ ion is due to a reorientationof the occupied 5d orbital by a (pseudo) Jahn–Teller mixing
between the two lowest 5d states, as these are very close in energy[16]. A similar Jahn–Teller type deformation may play a role inexplaining the large Stokes shift for Cs2MP2O7:Eu2 þ .
To investigate the origin of the large Stokes shift for the Eu2 þemission in Cs2MP2O7 here we report luminescence spectra
recorded at cryogenic temperatures. At low temperatures often
zero-phonon lines and sharp onsets of excitation and emission
spectra are observed which give information on the energy of theelectronic origin of excited states involved. A shift of the zerophonon line or sharp onset between emission and excitation
spectra can provide evidence for electronic relaxation in the
excited state. In addition, the d–f luminescence for other lanthanide ions, Ce3 þ and Yb2 þ , is investigated and compared with theluminescence properties of Eu2 þ . The results reveal a large shift
between the sharp onset in the excitation and emission spectra of
Eu2 þ . Contrary to the unusually large Stokes shift and red-shifted
emission observed for Eu2 þ in Cs2MP2O7, the luminescence of
Ce3 þ is normal in Cs2MP2O7 indicating that the unusual luminescence properties are speciﬁc for the d–f emission of Eu2 þ .

Microcrystalline samples of Cs2MP2O7 (M ¼ Ca2 þ , Sr2 þ ) dopedwith 0.1 or 1% of Eu2 þ , Ce3 þ or Yb2 þ ions were synthesized using
solid-state reaction techniques. The starting materials Cs2CO3 (10mole% excess), (NH4)2HPO4 (10 mole% excess), CaO, SrCO3 andEu2O3, Yb2O3 or CeO2 were thoroughly mixed and ground with apestle in an agate mortar. The powder mixtures were dried at
300 °C for 1 h in air and, subsequently, ﬁred twice at 750 °C(Cs2CaP2O7) or 800 °C (Cs2SrP2O7) for 5 h in a reducing atmosphere (10% H2/90% N2). The samples were thoroughly groundbetween each heating step. X-ray diffraction measurements conﬁrmed that the Cs2CaP2O7 and Cs2SrP2O7 powders were single
phase (see Fig. S1).
Photoluminescence (PL) spectra and decay curves of the samples were measured using an Edinburgh Instruments FLS920
ﬂuorescence spectrometer, equipped with a 450 W xenon lamp as
excitation source, a double excitation monochromator (0.22 m)
and a single emission monochromator (0.22 m). For measurements down to 4 K, the samples were cooled in an Oxford
Instruments liquid helium ﬂow cryostat. Emission was detectedwith a Hamamatsu R928 photomultiplier tube (PMT). For lifetime
measurements, Ce3 þ ions were excited with a PicoQuant pulsed
diode (PDL 800-B combined with PLS 270, λexc ¼ 270 nm, pulse
width 650 ps) and Eu2 þ was excited with an Edinburgh EPL375
pulsed diode laser (λexc ¼ 376:8 nm, pulse width 65 ps). The decay
curves were recorded with a Hamamatsu H74422–40 PMT.
Excitation spectra in the deep UV and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV)
region (between 150 and 300 nm) were recorded at the BL3B
beamline of the UVSOR facility (Okazaki, Japan). This beamline consists of a 2.5 m off-plane Eagle type normal incidence monochromator, which covers the VUV, UV and visible (VIS) regions. In thepresent experiments a spherical grating with a groove density of
600 lines/mm optimized at a photon energy of  16 eV was used. For
the photoluminescence measurements in the UV-VIS region, a 0.22 m
Acton monochromator with a Princeton Instruments CCD detector
was used. Excitation spectra were recorded using a Hamamatsu
R4220 PMT connected to the same monochromator.

3. Results and discussion
3.1. Eu2 þ luminescence
To investigate the origin of the large Stokes shift luminescence
spectra were recorded at cryogenic temperatures. At 4 K only thelowest vibrational level in the ground and excited states arethermally populated resulting in narrow bands in emission andexcitation. Also, in case of weak electron-phonon coupling (small
Huang–Rhys parameter S) zero-phonon lines may be observed in
excitation and emission. For a speciﬁc electronic transition thezero-phonon line in excitation and emission are expected at thesame energy, as has been observed for e.g. Eu2 þ and Ce3 þ [17–20].
Figs. 2 and 3 show the emission (red lines) and excitation spectra(blue lines) at T ¼ 4 K of Cs2CaP2O7:Eu2 þ (1%) and Cs2SrP2O7:Eu2 þ(0.1%), respectively. The blue solid lines are the excitation spectrathat were measured using the Edinburgh Instruments FLS920
ﬂuorescence spectrometer and the blue broken lines are theexcitation spectra that were recorded at beamline BL3B of the
UVSOR facility.
In the excitation spectra a broad band is observed between 22 500
761
and 35 000 cm  1, which is assigned to the Eu2 þ 4f -4f 5d ðt2g Þtransition. At higher energy, around 45 000 cm  1, another absorption
7
6
1
band is observed that is assigned to the Eu2 þ 4f -4f 5d ðeg Þtransition. The lower energy band shows the characteristic staircase

256

T. Senden, A. Meijerink / Journal of Luminescence 177 (2016) 254–260

Normalized Intensity

1.0

Table 1
Optical properties of Eu2 þ ions in Cs2CaP2O7 and Cs2SrP2O7. Peak energy of theemission band Eem , full width at half maximum intensity of the emission band Γ em ,
h
i
7
6
1
estimated energy of the 4f →4f 7 F0 5d transition Eabs and the Stokes shift

T=4K

0.8

ΔS ¼ Eabs  Eem . All values are in cm  1 and at T ¼ 4 K.

0.6
0.4

Eabs

0.2

t2g

eg

EZPL

25,00035,00045,00055,000-1

Energy (cm )Fig. 2. The emission (red line; λexc ¼ 340 nm) and (V)UV excitation spectra (bluesolid line; λem ¼ 630 nm and blue dashed line; λem ¼ 640 nm) of Cs2CaP2O7:Eu2 þ(1%) at T ¼ 4 K. The spectra recorded with the Edinburgh Instruments FLS 920
ﬂuorescence spectrometer are the solid lines and the excitation spectrum measured
at the UVSOR facility is the dotted line. (For interpretation of the references to color
in this ﬁgure caption, the reader is referred to the web version of this paper.)Normalized Intensity

1.0

T=4K

0.8
0.6
0.4

eg

t2g

E abs
0.2

EZPL

0.0
15,000

Eem

Γ em

Eabs

ΔS

Cs2CaP2O7
Cs2SrP2O7

16 69417 8571618
1506

22 98923 9236294
6066

symmetrical and broader (see Fig. S2), with a Γthat hasincreased to 3045 cm  1 for M ¼ Ca2 þ and to 3138 cm  1 for M ¼
Sr2 þ . The increase in emission bandwidth is due to thermalem
is 2191 andbroadening. Previously it was reported that Γ2147 cm  1 at T ¼ 80 K for M ¼ Ca2 þ and Sr2 þ , respectively [11].
emvalues we have obtained
These values ﬁt nicely between the Γat T ¼ 4 K and room temperature. Besides an increase in bandwidth, the Eem has slightly shifted to higher energy (a blue shift ofapproximately 10 nm) when the temperature is increased to 298 K(see Fig. S2). The shift in Eem is attributed to emission from thermally occupied higher vibrational levels in the excited state and/or
a small decrease in the crystal ﬁeld strength when the temperature increases (longer Eu2 þ  O2  distance). The luminescence
properties in Figs. 2 and 3 are in agreement with the results previously reported for Cs2MP2O7:Eu2 þ at 80 K in Ref. [11]. However,the spectra shown in this work were recorded at 4 K instead of
80 K. At 4 K (the onsets of) the emission and excitation bands are
better resolved, which is important for e.g. correctly determining
the Stokes shift of the Eu2 þ emission.
The Eu2 þ emission is in the red (Cs2CaP2O7:Eu2 þ ) or yellow(Cs2SrP2O7:Eu2 þ ) spectral region, which is highly unusual for
Eu2 þ in a phosphate host lattice. The low energy luminescenceoriginates from the very large Eu2 þ Stokes shift ðΔSÞ. ΔS of theEu2 þ emission
h is ideﬁned as the difference between the energy of7
6
1
the 4f -4f 7 F0 5d transition Eabs and the peak energy of theem

0.0
15,000Host

25,00035,00045,00055,000

Energy (cm-1)

7

Fig. 3. The emission (red line; λexc ¼ 340 nm) and (V)UV excitation spectra (bluesolid line; λem ¼ 570 nm and blue dashed line; λem ¼ 560 nm) of Cs2SrP2O7:Eu2 þ(0.1%) at T ¼ 4 K. The spectra recorded with the Edinburgh Instruments FLS 920
ﬂuorescence spectrometer are the solid lines and the excitation spectrum measured
at the UVSOR facility is the dotted line. (For interpretation of the references to color
in this ﬁgure caption, the reader is referred to the web version of this paper.)structure of a Eu2 þ 4f -4f
7

h

6 7

i
1
FJ 5d absorption band, which is
6caused by transitions to the seven 7FJ ð J ¼ 0  6Þ multiplets of the 4f
61
conﬁguration in the 4f 5d excited state.
In order to calculate the crystal ﬁeld splitting 10 Dq, we
determine the energy difference between the onsets of the t2g andeg absorption bands. We ﬁnd a crystal ﬁeld splitting of
18 982 cm  1 for Cs2CaP2O7 and 17 281 cm  1 for Cs2SrP2O7.
Alternatively, we can estimate the crystal ﬁeld splitting by taking
the energy difference between the maximums of t2g and eg
absorption bands. Using this method, a crystal ﬁeld splitting of
17 677 cm  1 and 16 422 cm  1 for Cs2CaP2O7 and Cs2SrP2O7,
respectively. The results show that the crystal ﬁeld splitting islarger in Cs2CaP2O7 than in Cs2SrP2O7, in agreement with Ref. [11].
The stronger crystal ﬁeld splitting for Eu2 þ in Cs2CaP2O7 is consistent with the shorter Eu2 þ  O2  distance in Cs2CaP2O7.
The emission spectrum of Eu2 þ activated Cs2CaP2O7 andCs2SrP2O7 at T ¼ 4 K is a narrow asymmetrical band centeredaround a peak energy Eem of 16 694 cm  1 (599 nm) and
17 857 cm  1 (560 nm) with a full width at half maximum intenemsity Γ of 1618 and 1506 cm  1, respectively (see Figs. 2 and 3 andTable 1). At room temperature the emission bands are moreem
8emission band
hi E . The transition from the 4f S7/2 ground state
6
1
to the 4f 7 F0 5d excited state corresponds to the ﬁrst “step” inthe characteristic staircase structure of the f–d absorption band.
However, if the ﬁrst step is not resolved in the spectra, Eabs can be
determined by taking the energy at which, on the low-energy side,
the excitation band has risen to 15–20% of the maximum of the“staircase” [1].
The values for Eabs and Eem are most accurately determined atcryogenic temperatures, as at 4 K there is least thermal broadeningof the emission and excitation bands. Hence, the ﬁrst step in thestaircase is clearly resolved in our excitation spectra measured at
4 K (see Figs. 2 and 3). By locating the ﬁrst step in the staircase
structure, it is estimated that Eabs ¼ 22 989 cm  1 for Cs2CaP2O7
and 23 923 cm  1 for Cs2SrP2O7 (see also Table 1). The Eabs is lower
for Cs2CaP2O7 compared to Cs2SrP2O7 as the stronger crystal ﬁeld
6
1
splitting in Cs2CaP2O7 shifts the lowest 4f 5d state to lower
energies.
The values we ﬁnd for Eabs are approximately 2000 cm  1 lower
in energy compared to those reported in Ref. [11]. However, in Ref.
[11] a different method was used to estimate Eabs . Instead of using
the common method to locate Eabs at the ﬁrst step in the staircase,
Eabs was determined by ﬁrst ﬁxing the 7F6 level on the highest
energy peak in the excitation spectra and then use a 5080 cm  1
3þ 7
multiplet
FJ term to locate the position of thehi splitting of the Eu
6 7
1
F0 5d level. However, the splitting of the 7FJ multiplets in4f
61

the 4f 5d state is often larger than the  5080 cm  1 observed forEu3 þ [1,21], explaining the difference in Eabs between Ref. [11] andthe present work.

T. Senden, A. Meijerink / Journal of Luminescence 177 (2016) 254–260

ΔS ¼ ð2S  1Þℏω
rﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃ
pﬃﬃﬃℏωΓ ðT Þ ﬃ 2:36ℏω S coth
2kT

T=4K

Normalized Intensity

Using the values determined for Eabs and Eem , we calculate the
Stokes shift ΔS ¼ Eabs  Eem . It is found that ΔS ¼ 6294 and6066 cm  1 for M ¼ Ca2 þ and Sr2 þ , respectively (see Table 1). The
estimated ΔS are approximately 2000 cm  1 smaller compared towhat is reported in Ref. [11], consistent with the lower values
determined for Eabs . The ΔS values are signiﬁcantly larger than the
typical Stokes shift of ΔS ¼ 1000–2000 cm  1 observed for Eu2 þ
d–f luminescence [1]. Moreover, the Stokes shift of Eu2 þ in
Cs2MP2O7 is larger than the largest Stokes shift value ever reported
for Eu2 þ d–f luminescence (ΔS  5300 cm  1 for Eu2 þ in Sr2SiO4)[22].
At cryogenic temperatures the Stokes shift and emission
bandwidth are expected to be of similar energy [21,19]. However,this is not the case for Eu2 þ in Cs2MP2O7 (see Table 1). In a ﬁrst
em
approximation ΔS (Eq. (1)) and Γ(Eq. (2)) can both be interpreted in terms of the Huang–Rhys parameter S and the latticephonon energies. In the conﬁgurational coordinate model,
assuming harmonic oscillators [23,24]:

257

Ce1
eg

t2g
A

B
C

D

ð1Þ

Ce2

F

E

ð2Þ

Using Eqs. (1) and (2), we can estimate the expected Stokes shift
from the emission bandwidth at 4 K, assuming that ℏω ¼ 400 cm  1
for a Eu2 þ  O2  vibration [24]. It is calculated that ΔS should bearound 1950 and 1650 cm  1 for Cs2CaP2O7 and Cs2SrP2O7, respectively. These values are signiﬁcantly smaller than what is observed forEu2 þ in Cs2MP2O7 (see also Table 1).
The low temperature spectra shown in Figs. 2 and 3 provide
information on the origin of the unusually large Stokes shift that isobserved for Eu2 þ in Cs2MP2O7. At cryogenic temperatures often
zero-phonon lines and/or sharp onsets of the excitation andemission spectra are observed, coinciding on the energy of theelectronic origin of excited states involved. Consequently, the lowtemperature spectra can show whether the emission and excitation bands used for determining the Stokes shift belong to thesame electronic transition [24].
The spectra in Figs. 2 and 3 do not show any zero-phonon lines,
but do reveal sharp onsets for the emission and excitation bands.
Using the sharp onsets, we can estimate the energy of the zerophonon (purely electronic) transition ðEZPL Þ for the emission andexcitation bands. For a speciﬁc electronic transition the sharp
onsets of narrow excitation and emission bands coincide at anenergy corresponding to the zero-phonon transition [17–20].
However, this is not the case for Eu2 þ in Cs2MP2O7, as there is alarge energy difference between the sharp onsets (and estimated
EZPL ) of the emission and excitation bands. It is estimated that theshift between the onsets of the Eu2 þ emission and excitation
bands is around 3500 cm  1, both for Cs2CaP2O7 and Cs2SrP2O7.
This large “onset shift” is consistent with the large Stokes shiftobserved.
The large shift between the onsets of the Eu2 þ emission andexcitation bands shows that different excited states are involved in
the emission and absorption process. This indicates that there is a
substantial electronic relaxation in the 4f 65d1 excited state, which
can be due to a Jahn–Teller like deformation. As a consequence of
this deformation in the excited state, the emission occurs from alower energy excited 4f 65d1 state, resulting in a very large Stokes
shift. Jahn–Teller distortions in the Eu2 þ 4f 65d1 state have e.g.
previously been observed for Eu2 þ in CaF2 and SrF2 [25,26]. The
Jahn–Teller splittings reported in Refs. [25,26] are smaller than
1000 cm  1 and cannot explain the large Stokes shift observed forEu2 þ in Cs2MP2O7. However, for Ce3 þ there are several reportsthat substantial Jahn–Teller like deformations in the 5d excitedstate give rise to unusually large Stokes shifts [13–16]. For

20,00030,00040,00050,000

Energy (cm-1)
Fig. 4. Excitation and emission spectra of Cs2CaP2O7:Ce3 þ (1%) at T ¼ 4 K.
(a) Excitation (blue) and emission spectra (red) measured for λem ¼ 420 nm andλexc ¼ 320 nm. (b) Excitation (green) and emission spectra (red) measured for λem¼ 340 nm and λexc ¼ 262 nm. The spectra recorded with the Edinburgh FLS 920
ﬂuorescence spectrometer are the solid lines and the excitation spectra measured
at the UVSOR facility are the dotted lines. (For interpretation of the references tocolor in this ﬁgure caption, the reader is referred to the web version of this paper.)example, it was found that the large Stokes shift of Ce3 þ in LaCl3
ðΔS ¼ 5800 cm  1 Þ is due to an off-center movement of the Ce3 þ
ion accompanied by a strong deformation of the ligand prism. It
was determined in Ref. [16] that the off-center movement of the
Ce3 þ ion is due to a reorientation of the occupied 5d orbital by a(pseudo) Jahn–Teller mixing between the two lowest 5d states.
Similar Jahn–Teller deformations can occur in the 4f 65d1 excitedstate of Eu2 þ in Cs2MP2O7. Therefore, based on the results presented in this Section we assign the unusually large Stokes shift for
the Eu2 þ emission in Cs2MP2O7 to a Jahn–Teller like deformationin the excited 4f 65d1 state of Eu2 þ .
3.2. Ce3 þ luminescenceIn this section we will present the luminescence properties of
Cs2MP2O7:Ce3 þ . Usually the d–f emission properties of Eu2 þ andCe3 þ are related [27]. Hence, we investigate if Ce3 þ also has an
unusually large Stokes shift of emission in Cs2MP2O7.
Figs. 4 and 5 show emission and excitation spectra at 4 K of
Cs2CaP2O7:Ce3 þ (1%) and Cs2SrP2O7:Ce3 þ (1%), respectively. We
have measured the luminescence of the samples for λexc  320 nm(Figs. 4a and 5a) and λexc  260 nm (Figs. 4b and 5b). For both
excitation wavelengths the samples show a strong blue/UV emis1
1sion, which is attributed to the parity-allowed 5d -4f transitionof Ce3 þ . The blue luminescence is also visible with the naked eye(see Fig. S3). The lifetime of the emission is 28 ns, which is characteristic for the spin- and parity-allowed d–f transition of Ce3 þ .
The emission spectra displayed in Figs. 4a and 5a (λexc ¼ 320 nm(Ca) or 316 (Sr) nm) show the typical doublet emission band
observed for Ce3 þ ions on a single lattice site (Ce1). The two emission
bands are due to transitions from the lowest crystal ﬁeld component
1
1of the 5d conﬁguration to the 2F5/2 and 2F7/2 levels of the 4f groundstate, which is split by spin-orbit coupling. The band of the lower-

258

T. Senden, A. Meijerink / Journal of Luminescence 177 (2016) 254–260

T=4K

Normalized Intensity

Ce1
t2g

eg

A
B

C

D

F

Ce2
E

20,00030,00040,00050,000

Energy (cm-1)
Fig. 5. Excitation and emission spectra of Cs2SrP2O7:Ce3 þ (1%) at T ¼ 4 K.
(a) Excitation (blue) and emission spectra (red) measured with λem ¼ 410 nm andλexc ¼ 316 nm. (b) Excitation (green) and emission spectra (red) measured with λem¼ 330 nm and λexc ¼ 260 nm. The spectra recorded with the Edinburgh FLS 920
ﬂuorescence spectrometer are the solid lines and the excitation spectra measured
at the UVSOR facility are the dotted lines. (For interpretation of the references tocolor in this ﬁgure caption, the reader is referred to the web version of this paper.)1energy 5d -2 F7=2 transition is weaker and therefore less apparent,
especially for Cs2CaP2O7:Ce3 þ were only a weak shoulder is observed
around 25 000 cm  1. The two peaks of the band are separated by 2000 cm  1 , which corresponds to the spin-orbit splitting of the 2F
ground state term of Ce3 þ [8].
Figs. 4b and 5b show that the shape of the Ce3 þ emission
spectra is different when excitation is at  260 nm instead of
 320 nm. This indicates that two different Ce3 þ emission sites
are present in Cs2MP2O7. The presence of two distinct Ce3 þ sites is
conﬁrmed by the excitation spectra shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The
excitation spectra of the Ce1 and Ce2 emission both consist of1
1
several overlapping bands, which are attributed to 4f -5d
3þtransitions of Ce . However, it is observed that the structure, i.e.
peak positions and splitting of the excitation spectra of the Ce1
emission band (see Figs. 4a and 5a) is signiﬁcantly different fromthe excitation spectra recorded for the Ce2 emission (see Figs. 4band 5b). This conﬁrms that the local environment of the two Ce3 þ
centers is different.
The splitting of the 5d1 state in the excitation spectra provides
information on the local environment of the two Ce3 þ sites. Ce3 þ
is in octahedral coordination in Cs2MP2O7 and therefore a splitting
1
1of the 5d1 state into a 5d ðt2g Þ and 5d ðeg Þ state is expected, the t2g
state being lower in energy. For the lower energy Ce1 site (Fig. 4aand Fig. 5a), the excitation band between 30 000 and 40 000 cm  1
1
1
is assigned to the 4f -5d ðt2g Þ transition. The t2g excitation bandis split into three bands, which is explained by either a large spin–
orbit coupling [19,28] or a slightly lower site symmetry for the
Ce3 þ ion (distorted octahedron). The excitation band between
1
1
40 000 and 55 000 cm  1 is assigned to the 4f -5d ðeg Þ transition. In the excitation spectra of the higher energy Ce2 site (Fig. 4b1
1
and Fig. 5b) we identify six 4f -5d excitation bands (A–F), which1means that the 5d conﬁguration is split into at least six different

states. This indicates that the symmetry of the Ce2 site is much
lower than (slightly distorted) octahedral.
The formation of two geometrically different Ce3 þ sites for
Cs2MP2O7:Ce3 þ is probably due to the charge compensation
required for the CeM2 þ site. The charge compensating defect can belocal or distant, i.e. in the ﬁrst shell of cations around the Ce3 þ ion
or further away in the lattice. A distant defect will not inﬂuence
the local geometry around the Ce3 þ ions, whereas a local defectcan cause a deformation of the oxygen octahedron around theCe3 þ ion. Hence, we expect that the (octahedral) Ce1 site is the
distantly charge compensated site, whereas the lower symmetry
Ce2 site has local charge compensation in Cs2MP2O7. Alternatively,
the extra Ce3 þ emission center can be in a second crystal phase
doped with Ce3 þ ions. This however seems unlikely, as the XRD
patterns in Fig. S1 show that no signiﬁcant impurity crystal phases
are present in our samples.
The crystal ﬁeld splitting of the 5d conﬁguration ðϵcfs Þ for Ce3 þ
in Cs2MP2O7 can be estimated from the excitation spectra of the(slightly distorted) octahedral Ce1 site. The ϵcfs is calculated bytaking the energy difference between the maxima of the t2g and eg
excitation band. We ﬁnd a ϵcfs of 20 346 and 19 736 cm  1 for
Cs2CaP2O7 and Cs2SrP2O7, respectively. The ϵcfs of the Ce3 þ 5d
conﬁguration is stronger in Cs2CaP2O7, in agreement with theresults for Eu2 þ . There are several compounds for which the ϵcfs of
the 5d conﬁguration for both Ce3 þ and Eu2 þ is known. Using thedata of these compounds, it was determined that the that ϵcfs in
Eu2 þ is 0.77 times that in Ce3 þ [27]. If we compare the ϵcfs of Eu2 þ
and Ce3 þ in Cs2MP2O7, we ﬁnd an ϵcfs ðEu2 þ Þ=ϵcfs ðCe3 þ Þ ratio of
0.87 and 0.83 for Cs2CaP2O7 and Cs2SrP2O7, respectively (ϵcfsvalues determined by taking the energy difference between the
maxima of the t2 g and eg band). These values are close to the 0.77
ratio determined in Ref. [27].
From the excitation and emission spectra in Figs. 4 and 5 we
can determine the Stokes shift of the Ce3 þ emission of Cs2MP2O7:
Ce3 þ . If the Stokes shift of the Ce3 þ emission is anomalously large
like the Stokes shift of the Eu2 þ d–f emission, this would indicatethat also substantial electronic relaxation occurs in the 5d excitedstate of Ce3 þ . The Stokes shift ðΔSÞ of the Ce3 þ emission is deﬁned
as the difference between the energy Eabs of the transition from11
the 4f 2F5/2 ground state to the lowest 5d excited state and thepeak energy Eem of the emission band belonging to the reverse1
5d -2 F5=2 transition. Eabs is the peak energy of the lowest-energy
excitation band in the excitation spectra. The Eabs , Eem and ΔS
values determined for the Ce1 and Ce2 emission centers in
Cs2CaP2O7 and Cs2SrP2O7 are listed in Table 2.
Before we discuss the ΔS, let us consider the absorption energy
Eabs and emission energy Eem . For both emission centers, the11energy Eabs of the Ce3 þ 4f -5d transition is lower for Cs2CaP2O7
compared to Cs2SrP2O7. This is attributed to the stronger crystalﬁeld splitting for Ce3 þ in Cs2CaP2O7. The Eem is lower for
Cs2CaP2O7:Ce3 þ (both Ce1 and Ce2), which is in agreement withthe results obtained for Eu2 þ . The values for Eabs and Eem of
Cs2MP2O7:Ce3 þ are also in agreement with what is typically foundfor Ce3 þ in phosphate host lattices [29,30].
Table 2
Optical properties of Ce3 þ ions in Cs2CaP2O7 and Cs2SrP2O7. Estimated energy of11

1

the lowest 4f -5d absorption band Eabs , peak energy of the 5d →2 F5=2 emission
band Eem, and the Stokes shift ΔS ¼ E

abs

E

em

. All values are in cm

1and at T ¼ 4 K.

Host

Eabs

Eem

ΔS

Cs2CaP2O7:Ce1
Cs2SrP2O7:Ce1
Cs2CaP2O7:Ce2
Cs2SrP2O7:Ce2

30 67531 54632 46832 89526 73827 62429 49930 211

3937
3922
2969
2684

T. Senden, A. Meijerink / Journal of Luminescence 177 (2016) 254–260

In Table 2 it can be seen that for Cs2CaP2O7:Ce3 þ the Stokes
shift of the Ce1 emission center ðΔS ¼ 3937 cm  1 Þ is larger thanthe Stokes shift of the Ce2 emission center ðΔS ¼ 2969 cm  1 Þ. A
similar result is observed for Cs2SrP2O7:Ce3 þ . The Stokes shift
values of both emission centers are in the range of ΔS ¼ 1000–
5000 cm  1 that is typically observed for Ce3 þ in (phosphate)compounds [29,15]. This is in contrast with the Stokes shift
obtained for the Eu2 þ d–f emission in Cs2MP2O7, which isunusually large.
The Eabs and ΔS values of Ce3 þ and Eu2 þ in Cs2MP2O7 can becompared quantitatively using relations that have been determined by Dorenbos [27]. In Ref. [27] it was shown that the redshiftof absorption, the Stokes shift of emission, the centroid shift of the
5d conﬁguration and the total crystal ﬁeld splitting of the 5d levelsof Eu2 þ and Ce3 þ all appear to be linearly related to one another.
The relations for Eabs and ΔS are [27]:ð3ÞEabs ðEu2 þ Þ ¼ ð0:64 7 0:02ÞEabs Ce3 þ þ ð0:53 8 0:06Þ eV;ΔSðEu2 þ Þ ¼ ð0:61 7 0:03ÞΔSðCe3 þ Þ:and Eqs. (3) and (4) to
We use the results of Cs2MP2O7:Eu
predict the Eabs and ΔS of Ce3 þ in Cs2CaP2O7 and Cs2SrP2O7. The
calculated Ce3 þ (calc) values for Eabs and ΔS are listed in Table 3,
together with the experimental values of Eu2 þ and the Ce1 andCe2 emission centers. The data in Table 3 show a good agreement
between the experimental Eabs values of the Ce1 emission and Eabs
values calculated for Ce3 þ . However, the experimental Eabs valuesof the Ce2 sites are just outside the range predicted for Eabs . This
discrepancy can be due to a weaker crystal ﬁeld splitting for the
locally charge compensated Ce2 site.
In contrast to Eabs , we observe large differences between thecalculated and experimental values for the Ce3 þ Stokes shift in
Table 2. The Stokes shift predicted for the Ce3 þ emission is morethan 1.2 eV, which is larger than Stokes shifts experimentallyobserved for Eu2 þ ð  0:75 eVÞ. The Stokes shifts obtained for Ce3 þfrom the spectra in Figs. 4 and 5 are however signiﬁcantly smaller,
with values of 0.3–0.5 eV for the Ce1 and Ce2 emission centers. It
is clear that the Stokes shift of Eu2 þ and Ce3 þ in Cs2MP2O7 do notshow any relation. The observation of a normal Stokes shift for
Ce3 þ indicates that only weak electronic relaxation takes place inthe 5d excited state, and consequently there is no evidence for a
substantial excited state deformation as suggested for Eu2 þ in
Cs2MP2O7.
3.3. Ytterbium luminescence
We have synthesized ytterbium doped Cs2CaP2O7 andCs2SrP2O7 to investigate the d–f luminescence of Yb2 þ ions in
Cs2MP2O7. The d–f luminescence of Yb2 þ and Eu2 þ are expected
to be related [31] and therefore the Stokes shift of the Yb2 þemission may also be unusually large. In contrast to Ce3 þ ions,Yb2 þ ions require no charge compensation when substituted into

Table 34f -5d absorption energy Eabs and Stokes shift ΔS of Eu2 þ and Ce3 þ in Cs2CaP2O7
and Cs2SrP2O7. The values displayed for Ce3 þ (calc) were determined using Eqs.
(3) and (4). Ce1 and Ce2 represent the two different Ce3 þ emission centersobserved for Cs2MP2O7:Ce3 þ . All values are in eV.

Eabs (Ca)ΔS (Ca)Eabs (Sr)ΔS (Sr)Eu2 þ

Cs2MP2O7. As a consequence, Yb2 þ -doped Cs2MP2O7 will better
resemble Cs2MP2O7:Eu2 þ .
The syntheses of Yb-doped Cs2CaP2O7 and Cs2SrP2O7 were carriedout under a reducing atmosphere (10% H2/90% N2) to reduce theYb3 þ ions of the Yb-precursor (Yb2O3) to Yb2 þ ions. However, noYb2 þ d–f luminescence was observed for Cs2MP2O7:Yb, even down to
4 K. Furthermore, no Yb2 þ f–d absorption band was visible in the
diffuse reﬂection spectra between 300 and 400 nm. We instead did
observe Yb3 þ 2 F5=2 -2 F7=2 f–f luminescence for Yb-doped Cs2MP2O7(see Fig. S4). These observations indicate that Yb is not stable in thedivalent state in Cs2MP2O7. Indeed, of all the lanthanides, Eu is mosteasily reduced to the divalent state and also in the Eu-doped
Cs2MP2O7 luminescence of Eu3 þ ions was observed. Based on this,
it is not surprising that Yb2 þ cannot be stabilized in Cs2MP2O7. Since
no Yb2 þ luminescence is measured, no comparison can be madebetween the luminescence properties of Eu2 þ and Yb2 þ ions in
Cs2CaP2O7 and Cs2SrP2O7.

ð4Þ
2þ

Property259

Ce3 þ (calc)

Ce1

Ce2

2.85

3:63 7 0:21

3.80

4.03

0.78
2.97

1:28 7 0:06
3:81 7 0:21

0.49
3.91

0.37
4.08

0.75

1:23 7 0:06

0.49

0.33

4. Conclusions
Previous reports have shown that the d–f luminescence of
Eu2 þ ions in Cs2MP2O7 (M ¼ Ca2 þ , Sr2 þ ) is characterized by anunusually large Stokes shift ΔS 4 6000 cm  1 . To gain insight in theorigin of this large Stokes shift, we investigated the d–f luminescence of Eu2 þ ions in Cs2MP2O7 at cryogenic temperatures (downto 4 K). Furthermore, we compared the Eu2 þ luminescence to thed–f luminescence of Ce3 þ and Yb2 þ ions in Cs2MP2O7. At cryogenic temperatures, a large energy shift of around 3500 cm  1
between the sharp onsets of the Eu2 þ emission and excitation
bands was observed. This is surprising as the emission and excitation onsets of a speciﬁc electronic transition usually coincide.
The onset shift indicates that there is a substantial electronic
relaxation in the 4f 65d1 excited state, which can be due to a JahnTeller like deformation in the excited state. As a consequence of
this deformation, the emission occurs from a lower energy excited
4f 65d1 state, resulting in a very large Stokes shift.
Cs2MP2O7:Ce3 þ showed UV/blue Ce3 þ d–f luminescence fromtwo different Ce3 þ sites. The formation of two distinct Ce3 þ sites
can be understood from the need for charge compensation for
Ce3 þ ions on the M2 þ site. Contrary to Eu2 þ , the emission for
Ce3 þ showed a normal Stokes shift of 2500–4000 cm  1 andtherefore the emission bands are at much higher energies thanwould be predicted from the energy of the Eu2 þ emission and theDorenbos relations. The normal Ce3 þ Stokes shift indicates that, incontrast to Eu2 þ , no Jahn–Teller like deformation takes place inthe 5d state of Ce3 þ . Unfortunately no Yb2 þ d–f luminescence wasobserved for Cs2MP2O7:Yb.
The results in this work indicate that the large Stokes shift for theEu2 þ emission of Cs2MP2O7:Eu2 þ can be explained by a Jahn–Tellerlike deformation in the excited state. To conﬁrm that a substantial
deformation in the excited state occurs, it is interesting to try measure the changes in the local geometry around the Eu2 þ ion in the
excited state, i.e. differences in the Eu2 þ -O2- distances. An excellent
technique to measure the local geometry around an impurity ion is Xray absorption spectroscopy, more particularly, Extended X-ray
Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) and X-ray absorption Near Edge
Structure (XANES) [32]. Recently, time-resolved x-ray absorption
spectroscopy (TR-XAS) experiments have been used to measure local
geometric changes in the excited state of various organometallic
complexes and metal ions in solids [33–35]. Hence, future experiments with EXAFS and XANES are interesting for investigating thegeometric structure in the Eu2 þ 4f 65d1 excited state.

260

T. Senden, A. Meijerink / Journal of Luminescence 177 (2016) 254–260

Acknowledgments
We thank Prof. M. Kitaura, Prof. J. Ueda and K. Asami, MSc for
their help and skillful assistance in the VUV experiments at the
UVSOR facility (UVSOR project number 27-515). The support of the
UVSOR (Okazaki, Japan) is gratefully acknowledged. This work is
ﬁnancially supported by Technologiestichting STW, which is partof the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek(NWO).

Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data associated with this paper can be found in
the online version at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jlumin.2016.04.050.

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