Energy Transfer between Activators at Different Crystallographic Sites

$Sr_2Si_5N_8:Eu^{2+}$, one of the most recently developed phosphors for use in white light emitting diodes, exhibits a two-peak emission. Namely, the emission band of $Sr_2Si_5N_8:Eu^{2+}$ is deconvoluted into two Gaussian peaks irrespective of the $Eu^{2+}$ concentration. We examined the two-peak emission of $Sr_2Si_5N_8:Eu^{2+}$ by analyzing the time-resolved photoluminescence spectra. We revealed that the two-peak emission was closely associated with the energy transfer taking place between $Eu^{2+}$ activators located at two different crystallographic sites in the $Sr_2Si_5N_8$ structure. The experimental results coincided well with the rate equation model involving the crystallographic information of the host.