Photoluminescence of nanostructured Zn2SiO4:Mn2+ ceramics under UV and VUV excitation

The photoluminescence of Zn₂SiO₄:Mn²⁺ ceramics with a particle size of 120 ± 10 nm, which is excited in the range of 3.5–5.8 eV and subjected to synchrotron radiation with photon energies of up to 20 eV, is investigated. Nanoscale Zn₂SiO₄:Mn²⁺ ceramics possesses intense luminescence with a maximum of 2.34 eV, the position and half-width of the band are independent of the excitation energy. It is found that the photoluminescence at 2.34 eV decays nonexponentially upon ultraviolet excitation. In the case of nanoscale ceramics is irradiated by vacuum ultraviolet, an additional photoluminescence-excitation channel is likely to occur due to interaction of band states and intrinsic vacancy-like defects of the Zn₂SiO₄ matrix.