Soft X-ray excited colour-centre luminescence and XANES studies of calcium oxide

Abstract

In this study, we show that colour centres can be produced by irradiating calcium oxide with soft X-rays from a synchrotron radiation source. Using the X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) technique, two colour centres, F-centre, and F+-centre can be identified. These colour centres emit photons at characteristic wavelengths. In addition, by performing time-resolved XEOL (TRXEOL), we are able to reveal timing and decay characteristics of the colour centres. We also present X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectra collected across oxygen K-edge, calcium L3,2-edge, and calcium K-edge. Experimental results are compared with density functional theory (DFT) calculations.Key words: calcium oxide, colour centre, synchrotron, X-ray excited optical luminescence, X-ray absorption near-edge structure.