Abstract
It is well known that the exponential, temperature-independent decay of luminescence in solids such as sulphides and silicates of zinc and ruby is characteristic of forbidden optical transitions within the specific luminescence emission centres, and the mean life-time of such decays can be of the order of milli-seconds in these materials1,2. The nature of these transitions in the chromium centres of ruby has been thoroughly studied by Thosar3, and the resulting decay of luminescence by Garlick and Wilkins2. In 1943, Dr. A. F. Wells, working in this laboratory, found that manganese centres in certain fluoride crystal lattices produced such decays with time constants of the order of 10 sec.−1, that is, the mean decay time being 100 msec.
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References
Randall, J. T., and Wilkins, M. H. F., Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 184, 347 (1945).
Garlick, G. F. J., and Wilkins, M. H. F., Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 184, 408 (1945).
Thosar, B. V., Phil. Mag., 26, 380, 878 (1938).
Randall, J. T., and Wilkins, M. H. F., Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 184, 366 (1945).
Tomashcek, R., Trans. Farad. Soc., 35, 148 (1939).
Travnicêk, M., Ann. Phys., 30, 224 (1937).
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GARLICK, G., GIBSON, A. Decay of Luminescence due to Forbidden Optical Transitions. Nature 160, 303 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/160303a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/160303a0
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