Luminescent properties: fast decay

Figures 4.34a,b demonstrate the emission lines of titanite, which according to their spectral positions may be confidently connected with Nd " ". The luminescence spectrum in the 860-940 nm spectral range, corresponding to the transition, contains six peaks at 860, 878, 888, 906, 930 and 942 nm, while around 1,089 nm corresponding to F3/2- fn/2 transition it contains five peaks at 1,047,1,071,1,089,1,115 and 1,131 nm. The decay time of IR luminescence of Nd " equal to approximately 30 ps in titanite is evidently the shortest one in the known systems activated by Nd ". The typical radiative lifetime of this level depends on the properties of the solid matrix and varies from approximately 100 ps to 600 ps (Kaminskii 1996). To explain the fast decay time of Nd " in titanite, the energy level quenching by the host matrix may be considered.

Morita et al. [97] have studied the photoluminescence of CdS Mn and Eu nanoparticles dispersed in zirconia sol-gel films. Luminescence properties of doped semiconductors are characterized by the presence of multi-centers, surface effects, and fast nonradiative decay processes in nanostructured sol-gel ceramic matrix. 

The first optical laser, the ruby laser, was built in 1960 by Theodore Maiman. Since that time lasers have had a profound impact on many areas of science and indeed on our everyday lives. The monochromaticity, coherence, high-intensity, and widely variable pulse-duration properties of lasers have led to dramatic improvements in optical measurements of all kinds and have proven especially valuable in spectroscopic studies in chemistry and physics. Because of their robustness and high power outputs, solid-state lasers are the workhorse devices in most of these applications, either as primary sources or, via nonlinear crystals or dye media, as frequency-shifted sources. In this experiment the 1064-mn near-infrared output from a solid-state Nd YAG laser will be frequency doubled to 532 nm to serve as a fast optical pump of a raby crystal. Ruby consists of a dilute solution of chromium 3 ions in a sapphire (AI2O3) lattice and is representative of many metal ion-doped solids that are useful as solid-state lasers, phosphors, and other luminescing materials. The radiative and nonradiative relaxation processes in such systems are important in determining their emission efficiencies, and these decay paths for the electronically excited Cr ion will be examined in this experiment. 

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