Energy Levels of Single-Crystal Erbium Oxide

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Abstract
The absorption spectra of large single crystals of Er2O3 observed at 10°, 80°, and 290°K were analyzed in the 2200–10 000‐Å wavelength region. Over 600 transitions from all eight crystalline Stark levels of the ground 4I15/2 state to over 30 excited J manifolds of the Er3+ ion in C2 sites were assigned. In thick crystals, evidence of vibronic spectra of ions in C2 and S6 sites was observed for seven J manifolds. The observed spectrum is compared with a calculation which includes configuration‐interaction effects on all expected ``free‐ion'' energy levels of Er3+ between the ground state and 44 000 cm−1. The parameters E1=6844, E2=32.04, E3=635, ζ=2354, α=12.2, β=−590, and Y(22, 1)=−4180 cm−1 yield an rms deviation of 73 cm−1 between observed and calculated energy levels. The significance of these parameters in comparison with those for Er3+ in other crystals is discussed.