Luminescence of Inorganic Solids

These proceedings report the lectures and seminars of a course entitled "Luminescence of Inorganic Solids," held at Erice, Italy, June 15-30, 1977. This course \'7aS an activity of the International School of Atomic and No1ecu1ar Spectroscopy of the "Ettore Hajorana" Centre for Scientific Culture. The course opened with an overvievl of the present status of luminescence research and with an assessment of its future trends. The following lectures introduced the basic formalism behind the interaction of matter with the radiation field and the lattice phonons. The luminescence properties of various classes of in­ organic materials were treated next, for the specific cases of unfilled-shell activators (transition metal, lanthanide and actinide ions) and filled-s~e11 activators (s2 and d10 ions). Different models suitable for the description of the luminescence properties of semiconductors vlere examined next. The dynamics of energy transfer and relaxation in the excited state of t;1e activators were treated in lectures devoted to the luminescence phenomena of sensitization, concentration quenching and thermal quenching. Finally, the relevance of luminescence studies to the field of phosphor technology and to the laser field Has examined. Each lecturer began the treatment of this topic(s) at a fundamental level and finally reached the current level of research. The sequence of the lectures was determined by the requirements of a didactical presentation. The emphasis of the course was primarily on basic principles. The formal lectures Here complemented by seminars and discussions.