Spectroscopy and excited states dynamics of Tb3+-doped KLa(MoO4)2 crystals

The luminescence properties of Tb3+ doped into KLa(MoO4)2 crystals are presented. The intensity dependence of the emission features from 5D3 and 5D4 levels was investigated in the temperature range 10–600 K. The decay profiles of 5D3 emission have been analyzed using Inokuti–Hirayama model for an energy transfer process in the absence of migration. Phonon-assisted (5D3, 7F0) → (5D4, 7F6) cross relaxation is evidenced even for a low doping rate indicating non uniform distribution of the Tb3+ ions inside the host.