Luminescence of Thin Bismuth Germanate Films Having the Structure of Eulitine and Benitoite

The luminescence and luminescence excitation spectra of thin films of Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂ and Bi₂Ge₃O₉ were investigated. The spectra were decomposed into elementary components by the Alentsev-Fok method. It has been established that the luminescence spectra of thin Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂ and Bi₂Ge₃O₉ films have a similar structure and that each contains three luminescence bands with maxima at 2.70, 2.40, and 2.05 eV and at 2.73, 2.40, and 1.95 eV, respectively. Comparison of the results obtained with the well-known results of investigation of the luminescence of Bi₁₂GeO₂₀ and Bi₂O₃ suggests that the luminescence in the compounds considered is caused by the radiation processes that proceed in structural complexes of similar configuration that contain the bismuth ion in the nearest oxygen environment. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 72, No. 3, pp. 377–380, May–June, 2005.