Abstract
A multipurpose novel experimental setup has been developed for the in situ measurements of ion-beam induced luminescence, optical response, and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy of materials. A low-energy ion accelerator (terminal voltage of 150 kV) has been coupled with the spectrometer for the experiments. Measurements show a drastic increase in the luminescence intensity at 425 nm with the maximum fluence of 120 keV He+ ion irradiation on pure monoclinic ZrO2 samples. The maximum luminescence intensity is found to increase systematically with the ion fluences. An excess of oxygen defects in irradiated ZrO2 samples is thought to be the reason for the increase in the luminescence intensity. In addition, the He+ ion-beam induced increase in optical responses at 425 nm in Ag+ ion-exchanged soda glass samples, for example, has been observed on ion irradiation. The unique in situ experimental setup demonstrates and opens new opportunities to study irradiation controllable defects in materials and ion-beam induced optical responses in glass samples.
Highlights
Irradiation of solids with energetic ions leads to the formation of atomic defects in target materials
Ion-beam based non-equilibrium methods have been extensively used for synthesis of metal nanoparticles,3,4 controlled processing of quantum-sized Ag particles (∼2 nm) in a silica glass,5 synthesis of composites of nano-alloys and compounds,6,7 and surface patterning on glasses.8. In such far-from-equilibrium synthesis conditions, material properties are primarily controlled by the dynamics of defect production processes and kinetics of defects
These experimental arrangements have enabled us to carry out the measurements on ion irradiation of various samples in an innovative and very effective way, for example, in situ optical absorption spectroscopy to measure optical responses of Ag metal nanoparticles on He+ ion irradiation, ion-beam induced luminescence, PL, and PL lifetime spectroscopy of ZrO2 with various He+ ion fluences
Summary
Irradiation of solids with energetic ions leads to the formation of atomic defects in target materials. Various experimental techniques are being utilized to characterize defects and evolution of novel phases in ion-irradiated materials Most of these experimental studies have been performed ex situ and failed to monitor instantaneous processes such as dynamics of defect evolution, ion-irradiation induced phase transitions, and ion-beam growth of nanomaterials. Optical methods such as photoluminescence (PL), timeresolved lifetime, and optical absorption spectroscopy are known to be very powerful characterizing techniques to study material modifications induced by irradiation defects in semiconducting and insulating materials.. Along with the IBIL, in situ optical absorption measurements as a function of ion fluence may provide a better understanding of the irradiation defects and nanomaterial phase evolution processes.. Some of the preliminary results obtained here are discussed in the present article to demonstrate the capabilities of these experimental arrangements
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