Time-resolved synchrotron radiation excited optical luminescence: Light-emission properties of silicon-based nanostructures

The recent advances in the study of light emission from matter induced by synchrotron radiation: X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) in the energy domain and time-resolved X-ray excited optical luminescence (TRXEOL) are described. The development of these element (absorption edge) selective, synchrotron Xray photons in, optical photons out techniques with time gating coincide with advances in third-generation, insertion device based, synchrotron light sources. Electron bunches circulating in a storage ring emit very bright, widely energy tunable, short light pulses (< 100ps), which are used as the excitation source for investigation of light-emitting materials. Luminescence from silicon nonostructures (porous silicon, silicon nonowires, and Si-CdSe heterostructures) is used to illustrate the applicability of these techniques and their great potential in future applications.