Optical Properties of Natural and Synthetic Beryl Crystals

The results of investigation of photoluminescence and UV-Visible absorption spectra of natural beryl crystals from Ural Mountains before and after fast neutron irradiation and synthetic crystal grown in Belarus and Russia are presented. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra of synthetic beryl crystals contain a broad band with maxima 740 nm excited both by UV light (λex = 260 nm, 271 nm) and laser excitation (λex =263 nm). This band is connected with Fe 2+ ions. The temperature lowering down to 8 K leads to appearance of narrow lines in the 680 - 720 nm regions. Emission lines observed in the luminescence spectra are connected with electron transition 2 Eg→ 4 A2g of the Cr 3+ ions: R-lines (682.5 …