Eu/RG absorption and excitation spectroscopy in the solid rare gases: State dependence of crystal field splitting and Jahn–Teller coupling

Stable axially symmetric atomic impurity in an fcc solid-Ba in rare gases

Closed-shell metal atoms in rare gas solids tend to occupy highly symmetric polyhedral crystal sites, as follows from the generic triplet Jahn-Teller splitting of the S → P excitation bands and complies with the isotropic nature of the dispersion forces. Atypical 2 + 1 Jahn-Teller splitting inherent to axially symmetric sites observed recently for Ba atoms has been therefore interpreted as the defect accommodation. By modeling the structure, stability, and spectra of the Ba atom in the face-centered cubic rare gas crystals, we identify thermodynamically stable crystal site of axial C_3v symmetry that explains experimental observations. We also demonstrate the dramatic effect of the interaction anisotropy on the trapping site structure and stability for an excited P-state atom. Our results provide strong evidence for stable axially symmetric accommodation of isotropic impurity in a close-packed lattice.

An investigation of the sites occupied by atomic barium in solid xenon-A 2D-EE luminescence spectroscopy and molecular dynamics study

A detailed characterisation of the luminescence recorded for the 6p ¹P₁-6s ¹S₀ transition of atomic barium isolated in annealed solid xenon has been undertaken using two-dimensional excitation-emission (2D-EE) spectroscopy. In the excitation spectra extracted from the 2D-EE scans, two dominant thermally stable sites were identified, consisting of a classic, three-fold split Jahn-Teller band, labeled the blue site, and an unusual asymmetric 2 + 1 split band, the violet site. A much weaker band has also been identified, whose emission is strongly overlapped by the violet site. The temperature dependence of the luminescence for these sites was monitored revealing that the blue site has a non-radiative channel competing effectively with the fluorescence even at 9.8 K. By contrast, the fluorescence decay time of the violet site was recorded to be 4.3 ns and independent of temperature up to 24 K. The nature of the dominant thermally stable trapping sites was investigated theoretically with Diatomics-in-Molecule (DIM) molecular dynamics simulations. The DIM model was parameterized with ab initio multi-reference configuration interaction calculations for the lowest energy excited states of the Ba⋅Xe pair. The simulated absorption spectra are compared with the experimental results obtained from site-resolved excitation spectroscopy. The simulations allow us to assign the experimental blue feature spectrum to a tetra-vacancy trapping site in the bulk xenon fcc crystal-a site often observed when trapping other metal atoms in rare gas matrices. By contrast, the violet site is assigned to a specific 5-atom vacancy trapping site located at a grain boundary.

Heat- and light-induced transformations of Yb trapping sites in an Ar matrix

The low-lying electronic states of Yb isolated in a solid Ar matrix grown at 4.2 K are characterized through absorption and emission spectroscopy. Yb atoms are found to occupy three distinct thermally stable trapping sites labeled "red," "blue," and "violet" according to the relative positions of the absorption features they produce. Classical simulations of the site structure and relative stability broadly reproduced the experimentally observed matrix-induced frequency shifts and thus identified the red, blue, and violet sites as due to respective single substitutional (ss), tetravacancy (Tv), and hexavacancy (Hv) occupation. Prolonged excitation of the (1)S → (1)P transition was found to transfer the Yb population from hv sites into Tv and ss sites. The process showed reversibility in that annealing to 24 K predominantly transferred the Tv population back into Hv sites. Population kinetics were used to deduce the effective rate parameters for the site transformation processes. Experimental observations indicate that the blue and violet sites lie close in energy, whereas the red one is much less stable. Classical simulations identify the blue site as the most stable one.

Electronic spectroscopy of ytterbium in a neon matrix

The low-lying electronic states of Yb isolated in a solid Ne matrix are characterized through absorption and emission spectroscopy. The absorption spectra of matrix isolated Yb while pumped into its triplet states have been recorded for the first time and the 6s6p (3)P(J) → 5d6s (3)D(1, 2) transition frequencies obtained. Under matrix conditions, the structure of these states is found to be qualitatively the same as in the free atom, but the intersystem crossing rate is observed to be several orders of magnitude greater. A proposed explanation for this is curve crossings between the bound potential energy surface correlated to the 6s6p (1)P(1) state and the potential energy surfaces correlated to the 5d6s (3)D(1, 2) states in isolation. The potentials of the Yb·Ne dimer in its lowest electronic states are computed ab initio and used in a pairwise cluster model to explicitly demonstrate these curve crossings.