Photoluminescence Response from the Turkish Dentritic Agates

Abstract

The three-dimensional photoluminescence emissions between 380 and 800 nm of the dentritic agate with white body color from the Dereyalak-İnönü-Eskişehir (Turkey) region were obtained at the temperatures between 250 and 340 K under 366 nm excitation. The most advantage of three-dimensional photoluminescence graphic in a silica structure is to demonstrate clearly all vibronic structures through temperature increasing on the spectra. Hence, photoluminescence response from the gem-quality material was discussed in relation to chemical impurities of trivalent rare earth elements. In the photoluminescence spectra, two strong and many weaker emission bands became clear at the lower temperature (250 K) conditions. First strong one is the purple band, and the highest emission peak is observed at 394 nm. Second strong one is the red band, and the highest emission peak is observed at 717 nm. The half-width of these main bands is approximately 17–19 nm, and such band's combination is typical for trivalent rare earth elements. Chemical analyses in this study show the abundances of many rare earth elements in the material. In order of abundance, they are yttrium (845 ppm), gadolinium (238 ppm), lutetium (196 ppm), dysprosium (45 ppm), neodymium (41 ppm), promethium (34 ppm), europium (18 ppm), and scandium (3 ppm). However, the two strong emission bands are, of course, due to yttrium and gadolinium ions, respectively. As a result, the intensities of these bands gradually decreased forming a sequence until the temperature of 280 K. Hence, the photoluminescence of the Turkish dentritic agates does not exist at higher temperatures, mainly because of high iron (40.000 ppm) abundance.