Applications of a Table-Top Time-Resolved Luminescence Spectrometer With Nanosecond Soft X-ray Pulse Excitation

Author

Bruza, P. ; Panek, D. ; Fidler, V. ; Benedikt, P. ; Cuba, V. ; Gbur, T. ; Bohacek, P. ; Nikl, Martin

Author_Institution

FBME, Czech Tech. Univ., Kladno, Czech Republic

Volume

61

Issue

1

fYear

2014

fDate

Feb. 2014

Firstpage

448

Lastpage

451

Abstract

We present the applications of time-resolved spectrometer for soft X-ray (SXR) excited luminescence measurements. We use the spectrometer to monitor the delayed recombination phenomena in the scintillation response of ZnO:Ga nanoparticles, SrHfO₃ microcrystalline powder, and rare-earth doped LiCaAlF₆ single crystals in an extended time and dynamic range. The nanosecond soft X-ray (E ≈ 0.4 keV) pulse plasma source is used for excitation of a scintillation process. High sensitivity of our experiment is enabled by an intense nanosecond SXR pulse with a very short absorption length (<; 1 μm) in scintillation materials and sensitive fast photomultiplier-based detection. Thus, we are able to measure decay profiles with signal-to-noise ratio as high as 10⁵ and with nanosecond resolution over millisecond time range. Moreover, the presented technique allows studying powder materials, due to the aforementioned extremely short absorption length of SXR.

Keywords

II-VI semiconductors; X-ray spectrometers; gallium; lithium compounds; nanoparticles; photoluminescence; photomultipliers; powders; scintillation; scintillation counters; strontium compounds; time resolved spectroscopy; wide band gap semiconductors; zinc compounds; LiCaAlF₆; SrHfO₃; SrHfO₃ microcrystalline powder; ZnO:Ga; ZnO:Ga nanoparticles; decay profiles; delayed recombination phenomena; extended time range; extremely short absorption length; intense nanosecond soft X-ray pulse plasma source; luminescence measurements; millisecond time range; nanosecond resolution; nanosecond soft X-ray pulse excitation; powder materials; rare-earth doped LiCaAlF₆ single crystals; scintillation materials; scintillation process; scintillation response; sensitive fast photomultiplier-based detection; signal-to-noise ratio; table-top time-resolved luminescence spectrometer; very short absorption length; Crystals; Gas lasers; Luminescence; Powders; Temperature measurement; X-ray lasers; ${rm LiCaAlF}_{6}$; ${rm SrHfO}_{3}$; ZnO:Ga; luminescence; scintillators; soft x-ray; time-resolved spectroscopy;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNS.2013.2279546

Filename

6636087