Abstract

Polarized emission has been used to establish the excited state symmetry of s²-ion doped alkali halide single crystals. The polarization from univalent s²-ions (Ga⁺, In⁺, Tl⁺) has been attributed to vibronic coupling (dynamical Jahn-Teller effect) causing a tetragonal distortion of the center¹. Some authors have attributed the polarization from divalent s²-ions to the Jahn-Teller effect¹, while others have attributed it to a center with lower than cubic symmetry due to the associated charge-compensating vacancy². In this paper, we show that either of the above models can be valid for divalent ions, depending on the relative magnitudes of the spin-orbit (SO) and Jahn-Teller (JT) interactions.

© 1984 Optical Society of America