Optical spectroscopy and luminescence quenching of LuI3:Ce3+

Optical spectroscopy of LuI3 doped with Ce3+ using ultraviolet and visible light excitation is reported. LuI3 host excitation and emission and 4f-5d excitation and emission of Ce3+ are observed. An empirical model based on crystal field splitting was used to estimate the energy of the highest 4f-5d excitation band. The crystal field splitting and centroid shift were compared to those of LuCl3:Ce3+ and LuBr3:Ce3+. Temperature dependence of X-ray excited luminescence spectra shows thermal quenching, whereas that of the decay curve of Ce3+ emission excited at the lowest 5d band of Ce3+ does not indicate the presence of quenching of Ce3+ emission for temperature below 625 K. The quenching in LuI3:Ce3+ therefore occurs before the 5d Ce3+ emission takes place.