The relation between static disorder and photoluminescence quenching law in glasses: A numerical technique

Photoluminescence (PL) quenching, which usually obeys empirical Street law for glassy solids, is analyzed taking into account the fact that the quenching of each particular emission center is statistically described by the known Mott law. A numerical technique for retrieving energy distributions of luminescent centers from PL quenching measurements is proposed. Mathematical treatment procedure is established and tested for reliability. Calculation results for chalcogenide, quartz and lead-silicate glasses demonstrate the possibility for obtaining both ordinary and polymodal energy distributions of centers and also a good promise for application in PL spectroscopy of disordered solids.