Spectroscopic analysis of Pr$^{3+}$ (4f$^{2})$ absorption intensities in a plastic host (HEMA).

A spectroscopic investigation has been performed on the Pr$^{3+}$ ions embedded in 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) solid plastic host. The standard Judd-Ofelt analysis was applied to the room temperature absorption intensities of Pr$^{3+}$ transitions to determine three phenomenological intensity parameters: $\Omega _{2}$, $\Omega _{4}$ and $\Omega _{6}$. Values of the intensity parameters were subsequently used to determine the decay rates (emission probabilities), radiative lifetimes, and branching ratios of the principal intermanifold transitions of Pr$^{3+}$ from the $^{3}$P$_{2}$, $^{1}$D$_{2}$, and $^{3}$P$_{0}$ manifold states to the lower-lying manifolds. The spectroscopic properties Pr$^{3+}$ in HEMA will be compared with those in glasses.