Luminescence of Eu3+ in the solid solutions formed in the binary system La2BaZnO5–Eu2BaZnO5

Abstract Two solid solution series were studied in the binary system La2BaZnO5–Eu2BaZnO5. In the present work we report the fluorescence spectra of the Eu3+ ion embedded in La2−xEuxBaZnO5 (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 1.4) and Eu2−yLayBaZnO5 (0 ⩽ y ⩽ 0.3) solid solutions; there are important structural modifications due to changes in oxygen coordination that take place in the La and Eu compounds. This effect is made evident through the analysis of the typical europium ion transitions: the magnetic dipole 5D0 → 7F1 transition, and the forced electric dipole 5D0 → 7F2 and 5D0 → 7F4 transitions which are usually very sensitive to the local crystal environment. The excitation and emission spectra of Eu3+ in both types of solid solutions were analyzed for different stoichiometry values (x and y). The emission, obtained with 398 nm excitation light, and excitation spectra were recorded at 17 K in order to have a good spectral resolution. As the Eu/La concentration changed in the La/Eu solid solutions, a larger splitting of the Stark crystal field components was observed as well as large intensity changes in the emission line spectra. In particular for x = 1 in La2−xEuxBaZnO5 and y = 0.2 in Eu2−yLayBaZnO5, the excitation and emission spectra show the largest line resolution. These results manifest the influence of the different Eu3+ oxygen environments in each one of the structures.