Luminescence of unusual bismuth in barium berates BaB8O13 : Bi)

The luminescence of unusual divalent bismuth (Bi2+) in BaB8O13 is reported. The emission band with maximum peak at 592 nm corresponds to the P-2(3/2)-->P-2(1/2) transition of Bi2+ in the matrix and the excitation spectrum with two bands peaked at 470 and 580 nm respectively corresponds to two split crystal-field levels of P-2(3/2) state. The small Stokes shift (similar to 350 cm(-1)) reflects the rigid structure of the host for the Bi2+ ions.