We report the study of the polarized optical absorption, the near-infrared luminescence and the luminescence excitation spectra of the proper ferroelastic K 3 Na(CrO 4 ) 2 crystals doped with MnO 4 2-ions. It is obtained from the luminescence and the d-d absorption spectra that the 3d 1 electronic ground ( 2 E) and excited ( 2 T 2 ) states of MnO 4 2-are split by the monoclinic crystal field of the host lattice at T < 230 K. The well-resolved vibronic progressions in the luminescence spectra are ascribed to a strong coupling with a MnO 4 2-bending ν 2 = 335 cm -1 mode. The spectral dependence of the linear polarization degree ρ(ω) of the charge-tranfer absorption for E||c and E||b polarization reveals a clear periodic structure due to interaction of local electronic states with a ν 1 = 816 cm −1 local mode. The first EPR spectrum of the Mn 6+ paramagnetic center in the K 3 Na(CrO 4 ) 2 : MnO 4 2-crystal is studied. The local transition due to a local configuration instability of vibronic origin at low temperature T ≤ 18 K is detected and identified. 1 Introduction The proper ferroelastic K 3 Na(CrO 4 ) 2 crystals are the objects of intense interest, and a number of experimental and theoretical studies have been carried out [1][2][3][4][5]. In most cases these reports using X-ray diffraction [1], EPR -and spectroscopic techniques [2,5] were aimed to the investigation of the properties of the unusual phase transformation of this material. According to [4,5] the phase transition in this crystal is a weak first-order one and occurs from 3m1 point group to 2/m at T c = 239K. The ferroelastic K 3 Na(CrO 4 ) 2 crystals containing the molecular impurities were not studied up to recent time [6]. The MnO 4 -molecular ions attract a special attention seeing that they are the advantaged paramagnetic and optical probes for the study of intrinsic fields in crystals. It was shown with EPR [7] and optical spectroscopic studies [8][9][10] that the MnO 4 2-impurity ions incorporated in various insulating materials have a potential as the perspective new laser systems in the near-infrared region.We present an experimental and theoretical study of the polarized optical absorption, near-infrared luminescence (NIRL) and luminescence excitation (LE) spectra of the K 3 Na(CrO 4 ) 2 crystals doped with the MnO 4 2-ions. The well-defined vibronic progressions in the NIRL spectrum are observed and ascribed to a strong electron coupling with the bending ν 2 mode of the MnO 4 2-ions. From comparison of the luminescence and the d-d absorption spectra the NIRL spectrum was assigned to d-d ( 2 T 2 -2 E) ligand field (LF) optical transition of MnO 4 2-. The electronic ground ( 2 E) and excited ( 2 T 2 ) states of MnO 4 2-are shown to be split in the low temperature (ferroelastic) crystal phase. The electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra for the MnO 4 2-impurity ions in the K 3 Na(CrO 4 ) 2 :MnO 4 2-crystals directly confirm that the active paramagnetic centre related to the MnO 4 2-molecular ion is Mn 6+ ion. A drastic spectrum intensity ...