Luminescence Database

About the Luminescence Database

The Luminescence Database is a free on-line reference tool for researchers in the fields of cathodoluminescence, photoluminescence, ionoluminescence, and related luminescence spectroscopies. The database contains >2500 entries of known luminescence emission lines from a range of materials, including minerals and synthetic compounds.

Data source

The Luminescence Database is compiled from published literature on luminescence spectroscopy, and all searches of the database return the relevant publication reference. If you would like to submit your publications and/or spectroscopy data to the database, please follow the instructions provided under the "Adding to the database" heading.

Credits

The Luminescence Database is compiled by Colin MacRae and Nick Wilson (CSIRO Process Science and Engineering), and Jackson Smith (Applied Physics, RMIT University). This website was was developed by Maria-Jose Montoya (Applied Physics, RMIT University) and Aaron Torpy (CSIRO Process Science and Engineering).

About Us

The Luminescence Database is brought to you by the Microbeam Laboratory in the CSIRO Division of Process Science and Engineering (CPSE), located in Clayton, Victoria, Australia. Our main research activities include:

How to search the database

Please refer to the help page for instructions on using the database. If you require assistance, please contact us via luminescence@csiro.au.

Adding to the database

If you wish to submit updates to the Luminescence Database, please e-mail luminescence@csiro.au and include the following information:

Material name and chemical formula.
Luminescence emitter (e.g. Er³⁺, intrinsic, etc), if known.
Line / band wavelength or energy, in units of eV or nm.
Spectrum/spectra, as CSV or text.
An image of the sample material, if possible.
Publication reference.

Luminescence generation and nomenclature

The optical emission associated with cathodoluminescence and photoluminescence is generally grouped into two types: intrinsic and extrinsic:

The intrinsic luminescence center is native to host materials and involves band-to-band recombination of electron-hole pairs. Intrinsic emission may also be associated with lattice defects (anion vacancies) within the minerals. This type of luminescence is also referred to as a "defect center".
Extrinsic emission is the most common form of luminescence and is attributed to the presence of trace element impurities, transition metal and rare earth ions. This type of origin is referred to as an "impurity center".

Minerals and materials often contain optically active dopants ions. Generally there are considered to be three types of dopant ions that influence and determine the net emission of a particular mineral. They are referred to as activators, sensitizers and quenchers.

Activators produce emission by releasing the absorbed energy as photons. The most common activators found in minerals and synthetic materials are transition metal ions (Cr³⁺, Mn²⁺, Mn⁴⁺, Sn²⁺, Pb²⁺, Fe³⁺) and rare earth elements (REE^{2+ / 3+}).
Sensitizers absorb the energy and subsequently transfer the energy to activators.
Quenchers trap part or all of the absorbed energy resulting in non-radiative decaying of the energy.

« Back to search page.