Abstract
It is proved that blue luminescence from benitoite is connected with intrinsic luminescence centers, namely isolated TiO6 octahedra. The metastable level 3T1u is the emitting level at low temperatures with a long decay time of 1.1 ms. At higher temperatures an energy level with higher radiation probability must be involved in the emission process, and this level is situated at 0.06 eV higher than the lowest level. These two levels may be connected with 3T1u level splitting or with closely spaced 3T1u and 3T2u levels. Decay time shortening and thermal quenching are connected with nonradiative decay within the TiO6 luminescence center, while energy migration does not take place at least up to room temperature.
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Gaft, M., Nagli, L., Waychunas, G. et al. The nature of blue luminescence from natural benitoite BaTiSi3O9. Phys Chem Minerals 31, 365–373 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00269-004-0407-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00269-004-0407-x