Cathodoluminescence of monoclinic Li3AlF6 crystals in the spectral region of 150–600 nm

• The pulsed and steady-state cathodoluminescence of monoclinic Li3AlF6 crystals was studied in the 150–600 nm spectral range.
• Thermal quenching of dominant self-trapped exciton emission band at 350 nm obeys the Mott law (E = 0.072 eV and ω = 750).
• The VUV cathodoluminescence bands at 172 and 208–212 nm have more complex temperature dependence.

Cathodoluminescence (CL) of monoclinic LiAF crystals was studied in the spectral (150–600 nm) and temperature (78–302 K) ranges using both the steady-state CL and pulse CL (PCL) techniques. Three CL emission bands were found in the spectral range of 150–600 nm. The dominant complex CL band at 350 nm obeys the Mott law (E = 0.072 eV and ω = 750). On heating, the 172 and 208–212 nm CL bands vary in intensity non-monotonically. At T = 78 K, the CL decay kinetics comprises three components: a dominant fast exponential component with a lifetime of 750 ns, and two low-intensity components with the lifetimes of 20 and 240 μs. The last two components were fitted by a second order hyperbolic law. Time-resolved PCL spectra were recorded using time-windows corresponding to the PCL decay components. Paper discusses the reasonable interpretation of the CL emission bands.