Eu3+ multicenter formation and luminescent properties of Ca3Sc2Si3O12:Eu and Ca2YScMgSiO12:Eu single crystalline films

Abstract The work is dedicated to the investigation of Eu3+ multicenter formation and luminescent properties of Ca3Sc2Si3O12:Eu (CSSG:Eu) and Ca2YScMgSiO12:Eu (CYMSSG:Eu) single crystalline film (SCF) phosphors, grown by liquid phase epitaxy method onto Gd3Ga2.5Al2.5O12 (GAGG) and Y3Al5O12 (YAG) substrates, respectively. We have found notable differences in the luminescent properties of CSSG:Eu and CYMSSG:Eu SCFs caused by the Eu3+ multicenter formation in both garnets due to the different local surrounding of Eu3+ ions in the dodecahedral positions by the non-isovalent Sc3+/Mg2+ and Si4+ cations in the octahedral and tetrahedral positions of garnet hosts, respectively. A feature of the Eu3+ center creation in CYMSSG:Eu garnet in comparison with CSSG:Eu counterpart is the possibility of localization of Eu3+ ions in dodecahedral sites of both Ca2+ and Y3+ cations. However, based on the obtained results, we have presupposed preferable localization of the Eu3+ ions mainly in the Y3+ positions of this garnet.