A far ultraviolet spectroscopic study of the reflectance, luminescence and electronic properties of SrMgF4 single crystals

The electronic properties of single crystals of SrMgF4 have been determined using low-temperature (10–293 K) time-resolved vacuum ultraviolet synchrotron radiation spectroscopy, far ultraviolet (3.7–36 eV) reflectance spectra and calculations for the spectra of optical functions. The bandgap of investigated compound was found at image, the energy threshold for creation of the unrelaxed excitons at image, and the low-energy fundamental absorption edge at 10.3 eV. Two groups of photoluminescence (PL) bands have been identified: the exciton-type emissions at 2.6–3.3 and 3.3–4.2 eV and defect-related emissions at 1.8–2.6 and 4.2–5.5 eV. It was shown that PL excitation (PLE) for the exciton-type emission bands occurs mainly at the low-energy tail of the fundamental absorption of the crystal with a maximum at 10.7 eV. At excitation energies above image the energy transfer from the host lattice to the PL emission centers is inefficient. The paper discusses the origin of the excitonic-type PLE spectra taking into account the results of modeling the PLE spectra shape in the framework of a simple diffusion theory and surface energy losses.