The analysis of time-resolved optically stimulated luminescence: II. Computer simulations and experimental results

This is the second in a set of paired papers on the analysis of time-resolved optically stimulated luminescence. This paper compares experimental results and computer simulations with corresponding conceptual models discussed in the first of this set of papers. The evaluation of principal and subsidiary luminescence lifetimes from time-resolved luminescence spectra measured during or after pulsed optical stimulation is illustrated using suitable analogues of exponential functions developed in the preceding paper. Various methods for calculating the activation energies for thermal quenching, thermal assistance and the frequency factor for the thermal quenching process using the temperature dependence of both luminescence lifetimes and luminescence intensity are described, as are techniques for dealing with cases not easily described by the standard Mott-Seitz model of luminescence. The paper then compares continuous and time-resolved optical stimulation methods, where it is shown that, dependent on suitable selection of the pulse-width, stimulation and measurement time, pulsing the stimulation light might give better accuracy in the determination of the luminescence.