Agata Kaminska

Photoluminescence studies of Mn4+ ions in YAlO3 crystals at ambient and high pressure

Detailed investigations of the photoluminescence properties of Mn4+ (3d3) ions in YAlO3 have been performed in the temperature range 10–600 K. The luminescence of Mn4+ ions due to the transition consists of two zero-phonon lines (R lines) at 691.3 and 692.7 nm, which became visible only at low temperature, and their vibronic sidebands that cover the range of 660–740 nm. The thermal quenching of the luminescence intensity due to the non-radiative decay occurs at temperatures above 420 K. The temperature dependence of the luminescence decay time shows a quasi-linear decrease from τ = 4.9 to 1.6 ms in the temperature range from 90 to 420 K (with a temperature coefficient −0.01 ms K−1) that makes YAlO3:Mn a potentially good phosphor for a fibre optic fluorescence thermometer in this temperature range. The high-pressure low-temperature luminescence measurements in a diamond-anvil cell reveal similar pressure coefficients for Mn4+ and Cr3+ dopant ions in YAlO3, equal to 1.16 cm−1 kbar−1 and 1.08 cm−1 kbar−1, respectively.

Lattice Parameters and Stability of the Spinel Compounds in Relation to the Ionic Radii and Electronegativities of Constituting Chemical Elements

A thorough consideration of the relation between the lattice parameters of 185 binary and ternary spinel compounds, on one side, and ionic radii and electronegativities of the constituting ions, on the other side, allowed for establishing a simple empirical model and finding its linear equation, which links together the above-mentioned quantities. The derived equation gives good agreement between the experimental and modeled values of the lattice parameters in the considered group of spinels, with an average relative error of about 1% only. The proposed model was improved further by separate consideration of several groups of spinels, depending on the nature of the anion (oxygen, sulfur, selenium/tellurium, nitrogen). The developed approach can be efficiently used for prediction of lattice constants for new isostructural materials. In particular, the lattice constants of new hypothetic spinels ZnRE2O4, CdRE2S4, CdRE2Se4 (RE = rare earth elements) are predicted in the present Article. In addition, the upper and lower limits for the variation of the ionic radii, electronegativities, and their certain combinations were established, which can be considered as stability criteria for the spinel compounds. The findings of the present Article offer a systematic overview of the structural properties of spinels and can serve as helpful guides for synthesis of new spinel compounds.

A combined study of the equation of state of monazite-type lanthanum orthovanadate using in situ high-pressure diffraction and ab initio calculations.

Lanthanum orthovanadate (LaVO4) is the only stable monazite-type rare-earth orthovanadate. In the present paper the equation of state of LaVO4 is studied using in situ high-pressure powder diffraction at room temperature, and ab initio calculations within the framework of the density functional theory. The parameters of a second-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state, i.e. those fitted to the experimental and theoretical data, are found to be in perfect agreement - in particular, the bulk moduli are almost identical, with values of 106 (1) and 105.8 (5) GPa, respectively. In agreement with recent reported experimental data, the compression is shown to be anisotropic. Its nature is comparable to that of some other monazite-type compounds. The softest compression direction is determined.

High-pressure spectroscopy of C3+ doped MgO–2.5Al2O3 non-stoichiometric green spinel

Abstract Results of high-pressure luminescence spectroscopy of Cr 3+ doped MgO–2.5A1 2 O 3 non-stoichiometric green spinel under pressures up to 130 kbar at temperature T =10 K are reported. It is shown that Cr 3+ ions in this crystal form four major groups of centers. The broadband infrared luminescence is a result of the very large inhomogeneous broadening, which affects the intermediate strength-crystal field centers. Due to this broadening some of the Cr 3+ ions experience a very broad spectrum of the crystal field strength from a weak to strong crystal field scheme.

Correlation of optical and structural properties of GaN/AlN multi-quantum wells—Ab initio and experimental study

The results of comprehensive theoretical and experimental study of binary GaN/AlN multi-quantum well (MQW) systems oriented along polar c-direction of their wurtzite structure are presented. A series of structures with quantum wells and barriers of various thicknesses were grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy and characterized by x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. It was shown that in general the structures of good quality were obtained, with the defect density decreasing with increasing quantum well thickness. The optical transition energies in these structures were investigated comparing experimental measurements with ab initio calculations of the entire GaN/AlN MQW structure depending on the QW widths and strains, allowing for direct determination of the energies of optical transitions and the electric fields in wells/barriers by electric potential double averaging procedure. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements revealed that the emission efficiency as well as the shape o...

Ab initio calculations of structural, electronic, optical, and elastic properties of pure and Yb-doped InP at varying pressure

Results of ab initio calculations of structural, electronic, optical, and elastic properties of pure and Yb-doped InP at pressures between ambient and 10 GPa in the density functional theory framework, using the CASTEP module of Materials Studio 4.0, are reported. It is assumed (in agreement with the experiment) that in this range of pressures pure InP and InP:Yb crystallizes in space group F4¯3m with four formula unit in a unit cell. Obtained values of lattice constant, bulk modulus, and its pressure derivative are in good agreement with experimental values reported by different authors. Additional calculations of the overlap integrals between the ytterbium and phosphorus wave functions in the InP host confirm that the observed previously [Kaminska et al., Phys. Rev. B 81, 165209 (2010)] at pressure of above 6 GPa effect of limiting of increase in f–f intrashell transition energies with increased pressure is associated with the top of the valence band of InP crystal host approaching the energies of the f...

Ab initio and experimental studies of polarization and polarization related fields in nitrides and nitride structures

Spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization in the nitrides is analyzed. The slab model was designed and proved to be appropriate to obtain the spontaneous polarization in AlN, GaN and InN. The spontaneous polarization and polarization related electric fields in AlN, GaN and InN were determined using DFT slab calculations. The procedure generates single value of spontaneous polarization in the nitrides. It was shown that Berry phase polarization may be applied to determination of spontaneous polarization by appropriate addition of polarization induced electric fields. The electric fields obtained from slab model are consistent with the Berry phase results of Bernardini et al. The obtained spontaneous polarization values are: 8.69*10-3 C/m2, 1.88*10-3 C/m2, and 1.96*10-3 C/m2 for AlN, GaN and InN respectively. The related Berry phase polarization values are 8.69*10-2 C/m2, 1.92*10-2 C/m2, and 2.86*10-2 C/m2, for these three compounds, respectively. The GaN/AlN multiquantum wells (MQWs) were simulated using ...

Equation of state for Eu-doped SrSi2O2N2

α-SrSi2O2N2 is one of the recently studied oxonitridosilicates applicable in optoelectronics, in particular in white LEDs. Its elastic properties remain unknown. A survey of literature shows that, up to now, nine oxonitridosilicate materials have been identified. For most of these compounds, doped with rare earths and manganese, a luminescence has been reported at a wavelength characteristic for the given material; all together cover a broad spectral range. The present study focuses on the elastic properties of one of these oxonitridosilicates, the Eu-doped triclinic α-SrSi2O2N2. High-pressure powder diffraction experiments are used in order to experimentally determine, for the first time, the equation of state of this compound. The in situ experiment was performed for pressures ranging up to 9.65 GPa, for Eu-doped α-SrSi2O2N2 sample mounted in a diamond anvil cell ascertaining the hydrostatic compression conditions. The obtained experimental variation of volume of the triclinic unit cell of α-SrSi2O2N2:Eu with rising pressure served for determination of the Birch-Murnaghan equation of state. The determined above quoted bulk modulus is 103(5) GPa, its first derivative is 4.5(1.1). The above quoted bulk modulus value is found to be comparable to that of earlier reported oxynitrides of different composition.

InAsP-based quantum wells as infrared pressure gauges for use in a diamond anvil cell

The results of high-pressure, low-temperature luminescence measurements of three InAsP-based multiple quantum well structures are reported for application as pressure sensors for diamond anvil cells working in the near-infrared spectral range. The multiple quantum well structures exhibit a much higher pressure shift of the luminescence lines as compared with ruby, typically used as the pressure sensor for diamond anvil cell. However, the full width at half maximum of the quantum wells is much higher than that for ruby. This reduces the available sensitivity gain exhibited by the InAsP-based quantum wells, but the improvement is still 2–3 times higher than that of ruby. Three InAsP multiple quantum well samples were examined, which exhibited luminescence at various wavelengths. The wavelength shift of these samples could be calibrated using similar parameters.

Physical Properties of Ba0.95Pb0.05TiO3+0.1%Co2O3

The single-phase perovskite structure of the Ba0.95Pb0.05TiO3+0.1%Co2O3 ceramics was confirmed by the X-ray diffraction method. Microstructural studies revealed that the samples were of good quality and chemically homogeneous. The thermal behaviour of ceramics was studied using the in situ high-temperature X-ray synchrotron powder diffraction investigation. The energy gap of about 3.2 eV was estimated using a reflectance spectroscopy. Measurements showed the influence of Pb and Co on the character of phase transition in the BaTiO3 structure. The results were compared to the ones obtained for pure BaTiO3.