Vacuum Referred Binding Energy Scheme, Electron-Vibrational Interaction, and Energy Transfer Dynamics in BaMg₂Si₂O₇: Ln (Ce³⁺, Eu²⁺) Phosphors

The host structure and the synchrotron radiation VUV-UV luminescence properties of samples BaMg₂Si₂O₇ (BMSO):Ln (Ce³⁺, Eu²⁺) at different doping levels and different temperatures were investigated in detail. Three important aspects are studied to elucidate the luminescence properties of samples: (1) the vacuum referred binding energy (VRBE) scheme is constructed with the electron binding in the BMSO host bands and in the Ce³⁺ and Eu²⁺ impurity levels with the aim to explain the different thermal stabilities of Ce³⁺ and Eu²⁺ emissions; (2) the electron-vibrational interaction analysis on the narrow Eu²⁺ emission indicates a weak electron-phonon interaction in the current case; (3) by using three models (Inokuti-Hirayama, Yokota-Tanimoto, and Burshteǐn models) at different conditions, the energy transfer dynamics between Ce³⁺ and Eu²⁺ was analyzed. It reveals that the energy transfer from Ce³⁺ to Eu²⁺ via electric dipole-dipole (EDD) interaction is dominant while energy migration between Ce³⁺ is negligible. Finally, the X-ray excited luminescence spectra of samples BMSO:Ce³⁺/Eu²⁺ are collected to evaluate their possible scintillator applications.