Search results for "Crystallographic"
showing 10 items of 202 documents
Structural inhomogeneity of Ge-doped amorphous SiO2 probed by photoluminescence lifetime measurements under synchrotron radiation.
2007
We report a study of the photoluminescence (PL) time decay of the B-type center, characterized by an optical absorption band peaked at similar to 5.2 eV and two related PL bands peaked at similar to 3.2 eV and similar to 4.3 eV, in sol-gel Ge-doped a- SiO2 under excitation by synchrotron radiation. Measurements were carried out by excitation in UV and in vacuum-UV (VUV), and were performed in the temperature range from 8 K up to 300 K in order to isolate the effects of the intersystem-crossing process, proposed to link the two emission bands of the center. Repeating the time decay measurement at several emission energies falling inside the 4.3 eV band, we have observed a variation of the PL…
Temperature dependence of luminescence decay in Sn-doped silica
2005
We report an experimental study on the temperature dependence, in the range 18-300 K, of the decay kinetics of the emission at 4.1 eV from the first excited electronic state of oxygen deficient centers in a 2000 ppm Sn-doped sol-gel silica. At low temperature, this luminescence decays exponentially with a lifetime of 8.4 ns, whereas, on increasing the temperature, the time decay decreases and cannot be fitted with an exponential function. These results are expected if there is a competition between the radiative and the thermally activated intersystem-crossing decay channels toward the associated triplet state. The comparison with previous data in pure oxygen-deficient and Ge-doped silica g…
Conformational heterogeneity of the point defects in silica: The lifetime of the phosphorescence band at 2.7 eV
2008
We have measured the excitation and emission energy dependence of the lifetimes of the 2.7 eV photoluminescence band associated to oxygen deficient centers in silica glasses. The non-exponential behavior of this time decay is consistent with intrinsic conformational heterogeneity of these point defects in the amorphous matrix. Accordingly, we have analyzed the data in terms of a radiative rates distribution. Moreover, both surface and bulk typologies of these point defects have been studied. The mean value of the lifetime distribution of the surface defects increases from 12 to 15 ms varying the excitation energy from 4.6 to 5.2 eV, and it increases from 14 to 15 ms in the emission energy i…
Thermal stability of gamma-irradiation-induced oxygen-deficient centers in silica
2006
The effects of isochronal thermal treatments on three {gamma}-irradiation-induced point defects, named the E{sup '}, ODC(II), and H(I) centers, are investigated in various types of commercial silica (a-SiO{sub 2}). ODC(II) is investigated by means of photoluminescence spectroscopy, and the H(I) and E{sup '} centers by electron paramagnetic resonance. The annealing processes of the ODC(II) and H(I) center are shown to be independent of each other, and no conversion mechanisms are evidenced. In contrast, a strong similarity is observed between the annealing curves of the ODC(II) and E{sup '} centers. We tentatively ascribe the annealing processes to reactions of the defects with radiolyticall…
Alpha and deuteron irradiation effects on silica nanoparticles
2014
We present an experimental investigation focused on the effects of alpha and deuteron irradiation on different silica nanoparticles. The study has been devoted also to characterize the induced point defects and the eventual structural modifications to evaluate the effects of the different irradiation source in comparison with the bulk materials. After irradiation up to about 10^16 ions cm^-2, we performed electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), photoluminescence (PL), infrared (IR) absorption, Raman, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. We found that the two types of irradiation qualitatively induce comparable effects. Furthermore, irradiation generates the socalled twofold coordi…
Influence of fluorine on the fiber resistance studied through the nonbridging oxygen hole center related luminescence
2013
The distribution of Non-Bridging Oxygen Hole Centers (NBOHCs) in fluorine doped optical fibers was investigated by confocal microluminescence spectroscopy, monitoring their characteristic 1.9 eV luminescence band. The results show that these defects are generated by the fiber drawing and their concentration further increases after c irradiation. The NBOHC concentration profile along the fiber provides evidence for an exponential decay with the fluorine content. This finding agrees with the role of fluorine in the fiber resistance and is discussed, from the microscopic point of view, by looking at the conversion mechanisms from strained bonds acting as precursors.
Isoelectronic series of oxygen deficient centers in silica: experimental estimation of homogeneous and inhomogeneous spectral widths
2008
We report nanosecond time-resolved photoluminescence measurements on the isoelectronic series of oxygen deficient centers in amorphous silica related to silicon, germanium and tin atoms, which are responsible of fluorescence activities at approximately 4 eV under excitation at approximately 5 eV. The dependence of the first moment of their emission band on time and that of the radiative decay lifetime on emission energy are analyzed within a theoretical model able to describe the effects introduced by disorder on the optical properties of the defects. We obtain separate estimates of the homogeneous and inhomogeneous contributions to the measured emission line width, and we derive homogeneou…
Photoluminescence spectral dispersion as a probe of structural inhomogeneity in silica
2011
We perform time-resolved photoluminescence measurements on point defects in amorphous silicon dioxide (silica). In particular, we report data on the decay kinetics of the emission signals of extrinsic oxygen deficient centres of the second type from singlet and directly excited triplet states, and we use them as a probe of structural inhomogeneity. Luminescence activity in sapphire (alpha-Al(2)O(3)) is studied as well and used as a model system to compare the optical properties of defects in silica with those of defects embedded in a crystalline matrix. Only for defects in silica did we observe a variation of the decay lifetimes with emission energy and a time dependence of the first moment…
Structure, nanohardness and photoluminescence of ZnO ceramics based on nanopowders
2015
ZnO ceramics obtained from grained powders with different grain size by hot pressing and ceramics from tetrapods nanopowders obtained by press-less sintering have been investigated under identical conditions. Ceramics obtained by hot pressing were optically transparent but were composed of large inhomogeneous grains (d = 8–35 μm) exhibiting a substructure. Decreased values of elastic modulus within a grain and a wide defect-associated ('green') photoluminescence (PL) band at 2.2–2.8 eV in conjunction with a weak excitonic band indicate a high concentration of residual point defects in hot pressed ZnO ceramics. Utilization of more small-grained powders contributes to the formation of more un…
Comparison of &#x03B3; and &#x03B2;-ray irradiation effects in sol-gel Ge-doped SiO<inf>2</inf>
2009
We report an experimental study on the comparison between the γ or β ray induced Ge related point defects in Ge doped silica. Silica samples doped with ∼2.2 1017 Ge atoms/cm3 produced with the sol-gel technique have been irradiated. The effects of the irradiation have been investigated by optical absorption, photoluminescence and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy in order to evaluate the generation and the dependence on dose of the Ge(1), E'Ge, Germanium Lone Pair Center (GLPC) and H(II) point defects. No relevant differences between the concentrations of γ or β ray induced Ge(1) and E'Ge point defects have been observed. In addition, it is found that both irradiations are able t…