Table of contents : front-matter......Page 1 01The lanthanide ions as structural probes in biological and model systems......Page 5 02Partly filled shells constituting anti-bonding orbitals with higher ionization energy than their bonding counterparts......Page 52 03The intensities of lanthanide f ↔ f transitions......Page 85 04Radiative and non-radiative transitions of rare-earth ions in glasses......Page 125 back-matter......Page 178