Regularities of Manganese Charge State Formation and Luminescent Properties of Mn-Doped Al2O3, YAlO3, and Y3Al5O12 Single Crystalline Films

Abstract

In this work, three sets of single crystalline films (SCF) of Al2O3:Mn sapphire, YAlO3:Mn perovskite (YAP:Mn), and Y3Al5O12:Mn garnet (YAG:Mn), with a nominal Mn content of 0.1%, 1%, and 10 atomic percent (at.%) in the melt-solutions, were crystallized by the liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) method onto sapphire, YAP and YAG substrates, respectively. We have also calculated the average segregation coefficient of Mn ions for Al2O3:Mn, YAP:Mn and YAG:Mn SCFs with Mn content in the melt-solution in the 0.1–10% concentration range, which was equal to 0.1, 0.14 and 0.2, respectively. The main goal of the conducted research was the spectroscopic determination of the preferable valence states of manganese ions which were realized in the SCFs of sapphire, perovskite and garnet depending on the Mn content. For this purpose, the absorption, cathodoluminescence (CL), photoluminescence (PL) emission/excitation spectra and PL decay kinetics of Al2O3:Mn, YAP:Mn and YAG:Mn SCFs with different Mn concentrations were studied. Based on the CL and PL spectra, we showed that Mn ions, depending on the Mn content in the melt-solution, are incorporated in Al2O3:Mn, YAP:Mn and YAG:Mn SCFs in the different charged states and are located in the different crystallographic positions of the mentioned oxide lattices. We have observed the presence of the luminescence of Mn4+, Mn3+ and Mn2+ valence states of manganese ions in CL spectra in all SCFs under study with 0.1 and 1% Mn concentrations. Namely, the Mn4+ ion valence state with the main sharp emission bands peaked at 642 and 672 nm, related to the 2E → 4A2 transitions, was found in the luminescence spectra of the all studied Al2O3:Mn SCFs. The luminescence of the Mn2+ valence state was found only in YAP:Mn and YAG:Mn SCFs, grown from melt solution with 1% Mn content, in the emission bands peaked at 525 and 560 nm, respectively, related to the 4T1 → 6A1 transitions. The PL and CL spectra of YAP:Mn and YAG:Mn SCFs with the Mn content in the 0.1–1% range show that the main valence state of manganese ions in these films is Mn3+ with the main emission bands peaking at 655 and 608 nm, respectively, related to the 1T2 → 5E transitions. Meanwhile, higher than 1% Mn content in the melt solution causes a strong concentration quenching of luminescence of all Mn centers in Al2O3:Mn, YAP:Mn and YAG:Mn SCFs.