Visible and ultraviolet emission from pulse irradiated amorphous and polycrystalline H2O ice

Abstract

Luminescence peaking at 405 nm was observed when thin films of amorphous or polycrystalline ice at 97 K were irradiated with a pulsed beam of 0.53 MeV electrons. These emissions differed from the luminescence emitted by crystalline ice in that memory effects were not observed; the peak wavelengths were red shifted by ∼20 nm; and the half-lives were 6–9 ns instead of ∼400 ns. The emission spectra of polycrystalline ice samples produced by rapid deposition or by annealing amorphous ice were similar, but both had substantially lower intensities than amorphous ice spectra.