Kinetics of Relaxation of Stored Light Sums in Silver Chloride

Experimental investigation of the time and temperature dependences of the process of relaxation of excited silver chloride has been carried out by the method of a photostimulated burst of luminescence. It is found that the relaxation process can be divided into two components, the rates of which differ by an order of magnitude. The activation energies of these processes of 0.03 and 0.06 eV correspond to the thermal ionization energies of electrons from shallow traps. Thermally activated relocalization of charges from shallow to deep traps in the process of relaxation has been revealed. The depth of a corresponding trap appeared equal to 0.17 eV. A model of a crystal phosphor has been suggested that contains five levels in the forbidden band: a hole center of recombination (luminescence), a deep electron trap, two shallow electron traps located at a depth of 0.03 and 0.06 eV from the bottom of the conductivity band, and a hole trap located at a height of 0.17 eV from the valence band top. Within the framework of this model, we can qualitatively explain the time and temperature dependences of stored light sums. We have shown the possibility of applying the method of a photostimulated burst of luminescence to investigation of the processes of relaxation of electron excitations in crystals to establish the relaxation mechanisms.