A luminescence spectroscopy study of scintillation crystals SrI 2 doped with Eu 2+

Abstract

We report experimental study of luminescent properties of modern scintillation material SrI 2:Eu 2+ carried out over the temperature range from 9 to 450 K by the means of the ultraviolet and vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopy with a time resolution. Photoluminescence of the Eu 2+ ions at 2.85 eV was studied under both the intracenter and interband excitations, including an X-ray excitation. The bandgap of the SrI 2 crystal has been estimated on the basis of the obtained results. In the temperature range below 100 K the intrinsic luminescence at 3.4 eV was revealed and this emission band was assigned by its properties to the luminescence of self-trapped anionic excitons in SrI 2. The pronounced manifestation of the effect of multiplication of electronic excitations was revealed in the energy range above 2E g. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.