Radiative relaxation of low-energy electron excitations and point defects in beryllium oxide

The mechanism by which elementary point defects arise and evolve in beryllium oxide crystals and the latest advances in the dynamics of electron excitations of this compound are considered. Experimental and theoretical results which touch on the generation and evolution of elementary point defects are obtained. The properties of intrinsic and impurity point defects, and the crystal-chemical fundamentals of defect generation, optical and luminescent transitions in them, and color centers are discussed. The electron structure of B²⁺, Al²⁺, Zn⁺, and Li]⁰ defects, nonisothermal relaxation of paramagnetic centers, thermostimulated recombination processes, and the concept of the coexistence of two types of self-localized excitons in beryllium oxide, radiative annihilation of which gives rise to luminescence in the UV and far UV bands are considered. Ural State Technical University. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 11, pp. 76–93, November, 1996.