LAUSR

A multipurpose novel experimental setup has been developed for the in situ measurements of ion-beam induced luminescence, optical response, and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy of materials. A low-energy ion accelerator (terminal voltage of 150 kV) has been coupled with the spectrometer for the experiments. Measurements show a drastic increase in the luminescence intensity at 425 nm with the maximum fluence of 120 keV He+ ion irradiation on pure monoclinic ZrO2 samples. The maximum luminescence intensity is found to increase systematically with the ion fluences. An excess of oxygen defects in irradiated ZrO2 samples is thought to be the reason for the increase in the luminescence intensity. In addition, the He+ ion-beam induced increase in optical responses at 425 nm in Ag+ ion-exchanged soda glass samples, for example, has been observed on ion irradiation. The unique in situ experimental setup demonstrates and opens new opportunities to study irradiation controllable defects in materials and ion-beam induced optical responses in glass samples.