Tb, Ba). From study of the excitation spectra and the kinetics of luminescence quenching it was concluded that energy is transferred effectively from the Tb 3+ to the Eu 3+ during excitation in the UV and visible regions of the spectrum. Key words: mixed barium-terbium phosphate, Eu 3+ ions, eulitine, luminescent material. In recent years mixed phosphates with the composition M 3 II Ln(PO 4 ) 3 , with M II = Sr 2+ , Ba 2+ and Ln = Y 3+ , Cd 3+ , Tb 3+ , which crystallize in structures of the eulitine type (Bi 4 Si 3 O 12 ), have attracted increased attention on account of their use as the basis of luminophores for white light-emitting diodes [1-4] and plasma display panels [5]. Interest in the material with the composition Ba 3 Tb(PO 4 ) 3 : Eu 3+ arose from the possibility of increasing the luminescence intensity of the Eu 3+ as a result of the sensitizing effect of the Tb 3+ ions [6]. It was shown that the luminescence intensity of the Eu 3+ ions in Ba 3 Tb(PO 4 ) 3 during excitation in the ultraviolet region under vacuum is substantially higher than in Ba 3 Gd(PO 4 ) 3 . In the authors' opinion this is due to more effective energy transfer from Tb 3+ to Eu 3+ than from Gd 3+ to Eu 3+ . It should be noted that in [6] the luminescent characteristics of Eu 3+ in Ba 3 Tb(PO 4 ) 3 were only studied during excitation of luminescence in the vacuum ultraviolet region, which does not make it possible to reach a conclusion about the amount and the microstructure of the Eu 3+ luminescent centers. It is, however, known that compounds with structures of the eulitine type are characterized both by cationic [7] and by anionic (oxygen) disorder. The significant nonuniform broadening of the luminescence bands of the Eu 3+ , Eu 2+ , and Ce 3+ ions in the series of phosphates with the (Ba,Sr) 3 Ln(PO 4 ) 3 composition, where Ln = La 3+ , Eu 3+ , and Lu 3+ , have been linked to these crystal-chemical characteristics [8-10]. On the basis of the similarity in the luminescence spectra of Ce 3+ in a series of compounds with structures of the eulitine type the authors [10] came to the conclusion that the Ce 3+ ions in such structurally ordered systems can even form their own oxygen environment. The authors of [11] undertook a detailed X-ray structural investigation of Ba 3 Tb(PO 4 ) 3 single crystals grown by spontaneous crystallization and by the Czochralski method. It was shown that the Ba and Tb atoms in the Ba 3 Tb(PO 4 ) 3 structure occupy octahedral positions (16c) with distinctly different M-O 0040-5760/15/5103-0191