Summary: | Low temperature photoluminescence (PL) and photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectroscopy of high purity ErSc(2)N@C(80) and Er(2)ScN@C(80) fullerenes reveal at least two metastable configurations of the Er(3+) ion within the cage, consistent with previous observations from x-ray diffraction. Using PLE measurements at a number of different emission wavelengths we have characterized the ground state, (4)I(152), and the first excited state, (4)I(132), of the various Er(3+) configurations and their crystal-field splitting. We present detailed energy level diagrams for the ground and excited states of the two dominant configurations of ErSc(2)N@C(80) and Er(2)ScN@C(80).
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