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The 5 f 1 6 d ( t 2 g ) 1 emission spectrum of Cs 2 GeF 6 :U 4+ single crystals has been calculated using the relativistic ab initio model potential (AIMP) embedded cluster method. It consists of a series of broad, intense bands in the UV followed by broad and increasingly weaker bands in the visible and near infrared spectral range, which appear to be associated with emissions from the lowest 5 f 1 6 d ( t 2 g ) 1 excited state, 1 E u , to a number of levels of the 5 f 2 manifold. The electric dipole allowed emission of highest energy, 1 E u → 1 T 1 g , is found to have very low oscillator strength, - 0.115 × 10 - 2 ; this value is only 4% of the most intense electronic transition: 1 E u → 1 T 2 g whose electronic origin is found to be at 34 200 cm - 1 . A very large Stokes shift of 6200 cm - 1 is obtained, which should result in low luminescence quenching due to reabsorption and should favourably contribute to the emission quantum efficiency. The lifetime of the spontaneous emission from 1 E u has been calculated to be in the nanoseconds range: 33 ns.

Ligand and solvent effects on the bond length shift experienced by complexes of lanthanide ions upon 4 f → 5 d excitation, addressed by means of ab initio embedded cluster calculations, are presented on the clusters ( CeF 6 ) 3 - , ( CeCl 6 ) 3 - , and ( CeBr 6 ) 3 - in solid elpasolites, in liquid acetonitrile and in vacuo. Previous predictions of bond length shortening upon 4 f → 5 d ( t 2 g ) excitation seem to be general and, in particular, chloride and bromide compounds in liquid solution are predicted to be good candidates for excited-state EXAFS measurements of the distortion signs. A quantitative analysis of contributions to the bond length shifts is presented, which shows the importance of ligand field effects and points out insufficiencies in the Judd–Morrison model proposed to account for 4 f → 5 d transitions in crystals.

An analysis is made of the transferability of frozen core potentials of neutral lanthanide and actinide elements to 4f/5f and 5d/6d states of their respective 3+ and 4+ ions. A good description of the orbital spin—orbit coupling constants ζ4f/ζ5f and ζ5d/ζ6d of the Ln3+/An4+ ions and of the 4f → 5d/5f ζ 6d transition energies is achieved by using [Kr]/[Xe, 4f] cores. The corresponding relativistic core ab initio model potentials (AIMPs) based on Cowan—Griffin atomic calculations, together with optimized Gaussian valence basis sets, are produced for the lanthanide elements Ce to Lu and for the actinide elements Th to Lr. Results are given for the Ce3+ and Pa4+ free ions and in Ce3+-and Pr3+-doped Cs2NaYCl6 and Pa4+-and U4+-doped Cs2ZrCl6 materials.

Ab initio calculations have been performed on Fe (II) (tz) 6 (tz = 1- H-tetrazole) to establish the variation of the energy of the electronic states relevant to (reverse) light-induced excited-state spin trapping (LIESST) as function of the Fe-ligand distance. Equilibrium distances and absorption energies are correctly reproduced. The deactivation of the excited singlet is proposed to occur in the Franck-Condon region through overlap of vibrational states with an intermediate triplet state or an intersystem crossing along an asymmetric vibrational mode. This is followed by an intersystem crossing with the quintet state. Reverse LIESST involves a quintet-triplet and a triplet-singlet intersystem crossing around the equilibrium distance of the high-spin state. The influence of the transition metal is studied by changing Fe (II) for Co (II), Co (III), and Fe (III). The calculated curves for Fe (III) show remarkable similarity with Fe (II), indicating that the LIESST mechanism is based on the same electronic conversions in both systems.

Excitons trapped at impurity centers in highly ionic crystals were first described by McClure and Pedrini [Phys. Rev. B 32, 8465 (1985)] as excited states consisting of a bound electron-hole pair with the hole localized on the impurity and the electron on nearby lattice sites, and a very short impurity-ligand bond length. In this work the authors present a detailed microscopic characterization of impurity-trapped excitons in U(4+)-doped Cs(2)GeF(6). Their electronic structure has been studied by means of relativistic ab initio model potential embedded cluster calculations on (UF(6))(2-) and (UF(6)Cs(8))(6+) clusters embedded in Cs(2)GeF(6), in combination with correlation methods based on multireference wave functions. The local geometry of the impurity-trapped excitons, their potential energy curves, and their multielectronic wave functions have been obtained as direct, nonempirical results of the methods. The calculated excited states appear to be significantly delocalized outside the UF(6) volume and their U-F bond length turns out to be very short, closer to that of a pentavalent uranium defect than to that of a tetravalent uranium defect. The wave functions of these excited states show a dominant U 5f(1)7s(1) configuration character. This result has never been anticipated by simpler models and reveals the unprecedented ability of diffuse orbitals of f-element impurities to act as electron traps in ionic crystals.

Single crystals of U(4+)-doped Cs2GeF6 with 1% U4+ concentration have been obtained by the modified Bridgman-Stockbarger method in spite of the large difference in ionic radii between Ge4+ and U4+ in octahedral coordination. Their UV absorption spectrum has been recorded at 7 K, between 190 and 350 nm; it consists of a first broad and intense band peaking at about 38,000 cm(-1) followed by a number of broad bands of lower intensity from 39,000 to 45,000 cm(-1). None of the bands observed shows appreciable fine vibronic structure, so that the energies of experimental electronic origins cannot be deduced and the assignment of the experimental spectrum using empirical methods based on crystal field theory cannot be attempted. Alternatively, the profile of the absorption spectrum has been obtained theoretically using the U-F bond lengths and totally symmetric vibrational frequencies of the ground 5f2 - 1A(1g) and 5f16d(t(2g))1 - iT(1u) excited states, their energy differences, and their corresponding electric dipole transition moments calculated using the relativistic ab initio model potential embedded cluster method. The calculations suggest that the observed bands are associated with the lowest five 5f2 - 1A(1g)--5f16d(t(2g))1 - iT(1u) (i = 1-5) dipole allowed electronic origins and their vibrational progressions. In particular, the first broad and intense band peaking at about 38,000 cm(-1) can be safely assigned to the 0-0 and 0-1 members of the a(1g) progression of the 5f2 - 1A(1g)--5f16d(t(2g))1 - 1T(1u) electronic origin. The electronic structure of all the states with main configurational character 5f16d(t(2g))1 has been calculated as well. The results show that the lowest crystal level of this manifold is 5f16d(t(2g))1 - 1E(u) and lies about 6200 cm(-1) above the 5f2 level closest in energy, which amounts to some 11 vibrational quanta. This large energy gap could result in low nonradiative decay and efficient UV emission, which suggest the interest of investigating further this new material as a potential UV solid state laser.

The lanthanide–chlorine bond length, Re, and the frequency of the symmetric stretching mode, νa1g, of the (LnCl6)3− octahedral defect clusters embedded in Cs2NaYCl6 have been calculated for all 14 Ce3+ to Lu3+ impurities in their ground 4fn electronic state using wave-function-based ab initio methods of solid state quantum chemistry which include relativistic effects and electron correlation within the (LnCl6)3− defect clusters and quantum mechanical interactions between the (LnCl6)3− electronic group and the Cs2NaYCl6 embedding host ions. The bond distance values obtained provide useful data to improve the Judd–Morrison model of the 4f→5d energy separation by explicitly including the local distortions the Ln3+ ions produce in the Cs2NaYCl6 host. The values of the structural parameters Re and νa1g, and their variation across the series have also been studied using simpler models of the embedding host (in vacuo and Madelung embeddings), which has revealed that host effects, particularly those associated ...

New ab initio embedded-cluster calculations devoted to simulating the electronic spectroscopy of Bi(3+) impurities in Y(2)O(3) sesquioxide for substitutions in either S(6) or C(2) cationic sites have been carried out taking special care of the quality of the environment. A considerable quantitative improvement with respect to previous studies [F. Real et al. J. Chem. Phys. 125, 174709 (2006); F. Real et al. J. Chem. Phys. 127, 104705 (2007)] is brought by using environments of the impurities obtained via supercell techniques that allow the whole (pseudo) crystal to relax (WCR geometries) instead of environments obtained from local relaxation of the first coordination shell only (FSR geometries) within the embedded cluster approach, as was done previously. In particular the uniform 0.4 eV discrepancy of absorption energies found previously with FSR environments disappears completely when the new WCR environments of the impurities are employed. Moreover emission energies and hence Stokes shifts are in much better agreement with experiment. These decisive improvements are mainly due to a lowering of the local point-group symmetry (S(6)--C(3) and C(2)--C(1)) when relaxing the geometry of the emitting (lowest) triplet state. This symmetry lowering was not observed in FSR embedded cluster relaxations because the crystal field of the embedding frozen at the genuine pure crystal positions seems to be a more important driving force than the interactions within the cluster, thus constraining the overall symmetry of the system. Variations of the doping rate are found to have negligible influence on the spectra. In conclusion, the use of WCR environments may be crucial to render the structural distortions occurring in a doped crystal and it may help to significantly improve the embedded-cluster methodology to reach the quantitative accuracy necessary to interpret and predict luminescence properties of doped materials of this type.

The U-F bond length, totally symmetric vibrational frequency, and 5f(2) energy levels of the Cs(2)GeF(6):U(4+) crystal are predicted through quantum-chemical calculations on the embedded (UF(6))(2-) cluster. The U(4+) ions substitute for much smaller Ge(4+) retaining octahedral site symmetry, which is useful to interpret the electronic transitions. The structure of the 5f(2) manifold: its energy range, the crystal splitting of the 5f(2) levels, their parentage with free-ion levels, and the energy gaps appearing within the manifold, is presented and discussed, which allows to suggest which are the possible 5f(2) luminescent levels. The effects of Cl-to-F chemical substitution are discussed by comparison with isostructural Cs(2)ZrCl(6):U(4+). The energy range of the 5f(2) manifold increases by some 6000 cm(-1) and all levels shift to higher energies, but the shift is not uniform, so that noticeable changes of order are observed from Cs(2)ZrCl(6):U(4+) to Cs(2)GeF(6):U(4+). The comparison also reveals that the green-to-blue up-conversion luminescence, which has been experimentally detected and theoretically discussed on Cs(2)ZrCl(6):U(4+), is quenched in the fluoride host. The results of the Cs(2)GeF(6):U(4+) are used as a high-symmetry model to try to understand why efficient radiative cascade emissions in the visible do not occur for charged U(4+) defects in low-symmetry YF(3) crystals. The results presented here suggest that theoretical and experimental investigations of 4f5f ions doped in octahedral, high-symmetry fluoride crystals may be conducted even when the mismatch of ionic radii between the lanthanide/actinide ions and the substituted cations of the host is considerably large. Investigations of these new materials should reveal interesting spectroscopic features without the difficulties associated with more commonly used low-symmetry fluoride hosts.