Effects of high pressure on the luminescence spectra of Eu(SO4)2.NH4 microcrystals: anisotropically induced structural distortions

The possibilities of the use of Eu3+ in extracting information of the pressure effects on the nature of its crystal site in the NH4.Eu(SO4)2 catalytic host are closely inspected through the study of emission spectra for applied pressures up to 87 kbar. The phenomenological crystal field analysis of these spectra reveals clear discontinuities, at approximately 30 kbar, the sharper ones, and then at approximately 70 kbar, in crystal field strength trends, which taken together with structure-based simulations of crystal field interactions indicate well-defined pressure-induced anisotropic distortions in Eu3+ local environments.