Photoluminescence of Eu2+ in BaF2-rich fluorohalides and photostimulation after X-ray irradiation

The luminescence of Eu2+ has been investigated in two families of BaF2-rich fluorohalides, Ba12Cl5(1-x)Br5xF19 (x≤0.8) and Ba7Cl2(1-x)Br2xF12 (x≤0.5). In the two kinds of host lattices, under UV excitation Eu2+ shows an intense blue 5d→4f band emission at 300 K. At low temperature, in addition to the latter, 4f→4f lines are present in the near UV. The efficiency of the photostimulated luminescence (PSL) after X-ray irradiation has been measured and compared with that of BaXF:Eu (X=Cl, Br). High conversion efficiencies have been obtained with compositions Ba12Cl5(1-x)Br5xF19 for stimulation at 532 nm. The presence of bromine is beneficial. For all compositions a high stimulation energy (SE) is needed to excite Eu2+ ions through colour centres