The electron absorption-, photoluminescence- and electron paramagnetic-resonance spectra of Mn3+ in red beryl from Wah Wah Mountains (Utah USA) and of pink- and purple vesuvianite from Jeffrey Mine (Asbestos, Canada) were measured at room- and low temperatures. The crystal field stabilization energies are equal to 130.9 kJ/mol for the red beryl, and 151.5–158.0 and 168.0 kJ/mol for for the pink- and the purple vesuvianite, respectively. The red photoluminescence of Mn3+ was not intensive either at room- or at low temperatures. The high Mn content in the crystals caused the emergence of an additional emission band and short photoluminescence-decay lifetimes. The latter are only 183 μs for beryl and 17 μs for vesuvianite.
For the first time, the luminescence properties of Pr3+, Nd3+ and Tm3+ and Yb3+ ions in fluorite crystal have been obtained by steady-state measurements. In addition, the luminescence spectra of Ce3+, Sm2+, Sm3+, Dy3+, Er3+ and Yb3+ were measured. It was pointed out that λexc. = 415 nm is most suitable for measuring the Ho3+ emission beside the Er3+. The emission of trivalent holmium and erbium ions was measured independently using time-resolved measurements and tentative assignment of luminescence lines to C3v and C4v symmetry sites was proposed. Besides for natural fluorite crystal, the transitions between Stark energy levels of lanthanide ions were presented.