Tetravalent manganese ions with the 3d 3 electronic configuration have recently began to play a major role as a red photon generator in the LED based lighting and display devices. The goal of this article is to tutorize the fundamental optical properties of Mn 4+ and to clear up some common misconceptions that we have encountered in the archival literature that pertains to the spectroscopic properties of this ion and other ions with the same electron configuration. The methods to properly interpret the optical spectra of these systems are also discussed. This is accomplished by presenting a discussion on the electronic properties of the free d 3 ions and the changes which occur when the ion is introduced in a crystalline lattice. It is hoped that such systematic presentation of spectroscopic properties of the d 3 ions and their variation from the free state to the crystalline solids will be useful for many researchers -mainly experimentalists -actively working in the field and will help them avoiding many mistakes when presenting their experimental results.
pl). This paper is part of the JSS Focus Issue on Visible and Infrared Phosphor Research and Applications.The development in 1994 of the first high brightness LED by the Nichia Corporation was followed by a renaissance of interest in developing phosphors, which in combination with the blue LED radiation would produce white light with suitable efficacy and color rendering for general lighting applications. Basically, the research has targeted the development of custom-made new phosphors (such as the nitride and oxynitride family of materials) and changing the composition of existing phosphors (such as the garnet family of materials) to produce luminescent materials that satisfy the pertinent requirements of general illumination devices. Such phosphors have been based on the luminescence of Rare-earth (RE) and Transition metal (TM) ions. Among the improved phosphors that is devised to produce red photons in general illumination and display devices is the family of phosphors with the general formulation A 2 MF 6 activated with Mn 4+ , a TM ion with the 3d 3 electronic configuration. Since the recent commercialization of the K 2 SiF 6 :Mn 4+ phosphor there has been burgeoning interest among phosphor scientist and engineers to research and develop alternative red emitting Mn 4+ activated phosphors. According to the Web of Science data base, the number of research papers containing two key words "phosphor" and "Mn 4+ " increased from nearly 0 in 2007 to more than 80 in 2016, with the number of citations going up to about 1500 in 2016 alone (Fig. 1). 1 Having seen such a reviving interest in the Mn 4+ doped phosphors, on one hand, and having met several incorrect statements in some of those papers, on the other hand, we deemed it necessary to write a tutorial review of basic spectroscopic properties of such systems with a clear aim of helping scientists, mainly targeting the young and experimental researchers, to avoid simple mistakes and basic misunderstanding. ...