Spectroscopic studies of zinc(1-x) manganese(x) sulfur

The optical properties of the diluted magnetic semiconductor Zn1-x MnxS have been studied by using photoluminescence emission, lifetime and excitation spectroscopies. In photoluminescence spectroscopy three bands were found peaking at 585 nm (yellow band), 650 nm (orange band) and 750 nm (red band). For the yellow and red bands the peak position changes little with Mn concentration. For the orange band the peak energy decreases with increasing Mn concentration. The lifetimes of the yellow, orange and red bands were found to be about 70, 50 and 7 mus. The results of the lifetime measurements support the assumption that there is energy transfer from the yellow to the red band through radiationless transitions. In the excitation spectroscopy of the yellow band four peaks were found peaking near 526, 487, 461 and 426 nm. These four bands have been ascribed to transitions from the four lowest excited states of Mn ++ to the ground state. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)