In situ luminescence from MgOAl2O3 irradiated by swift heavy Xeq+ ions

Ion irradiation can result in luminescence emission from optical window material aluminum magnesium spinel (MgOAl2O3). In the present work, single crystals of MgOAl2O3 are irradiated with swift heavy ions. During irradiation, the emission spectra, in the range of 200–800 nm, are obtained from MgOAl2O3 irradiated by 93–609 MeV Xeq+ ions. The emission bands originated from radiative recombination of excitons and the spectral lines derived from impurity ions are observed. These emission bands, as a function of incident ion energy and irradiation dose, are presented. The results indicate that the increase of ion energy can effectively increase the spectral intensity, and due to crystal damage caused by ion irradiation, the spectral intensity decreases with increasing irradiation dose. Similar to nanohillock and ion track formation, luminescence emission occurs above a critical electronic energy loss of about 7.2 keV/nm. In-situ measurement of the luminescence emission is of great significance to study the irradiation modification and can help to understand the process of crystal damage caused by ion irradiation.