NaBi(WO 4 ) 2 (NBW), NaBi(MoO 4 ) 2 (NBMo) and LiBi(MoO 4 ) 2 (LBMo) single crystals grown by the Czochralski technique have been doped up to a praseodymium concentration of [Pr] ≈ 1 × 10 20 cm −3 in the crystal. 10 K polarized optical absorption and photoluminescence measurements have been used to determine the energy position of 32, 39 and 36 Pr 3+ Stark levels in NBW, NBMo and LBMo crystals, respectively. These energy levels were labelled with the appropriate irreducible representations corresponding to a C 2 local symmetry of an average optical centre. Single-electron Hamiltonians including free-ion and crystal field interactions have been used in the fitting of experimental energy levels and in the simulation of the full sequence of the 4f 2 Pr 3+ configuration. 300 K absorption spectra of different 2S+1 L J Pr 3+ multiplets were determined and used in the context of the Judd-Ofelt theory and for the calculation of the 1 D 2 -related emission cross sections of this average Pr 3+ centre. Non-radiative electron relaxation from the 3 P 0 level feeds the 1 D 2 multiplet. This latter level efficiently decays radiatively to the ground 3 H 4 multiplet but still there is a significant rate of radiative decay to the 1 D 2 → 3 F 3 praseodymium laser channel. For [Pr] 2 × 10 19 cm −3 , non-radiative electric dipole-dipole Pr pair energy transfer limits the radiative yield.

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