Applications of a Table-Top Time-Resolved Luminescence Spectrometer With Nanosecond Soft X-ray Pulse Excitation

We present the applications of time-resolved spectrometer for soft X-ray (SXR) excited luminescence measurements. We use the spectrometer to monitor the delayed recombination phenomena in the scintillation response of ZnO:Ga nanoparticles, SrHfO₃ microcrystalline powder, and rare-earth doped LiCaAlF₆ single crystals in an extended time and dynamic range. The nanosecond soft X-ray (E ≈ 0.4 keV) pulse plasma source is used for excitation of a scintillation process. High sensitivity of our experiment is enabled by an intense nanosecond SXR pulse with a very short absorption length (<; 1 μm) in scintillation materials and sensitive fast photomultiplier-based detection. Thus, we are able to measure decay profiles with signal-to-noise ratio as high as 10⁵ and with nanosecond resolution over millisecond time range. Moreover, the presented technique allows studying powder materials, due to the aforementioned extremely short absorption length of SXR.