Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

We recently developed a technique called time-resolved x-ray excited optical luminescence (TRXEOL), which takes advantage of the time structure of the Canadian Light Source, a national laboratory of synchrotron light located in Saskatoon, first of this kind in Canada. Synchrotron light is produced as an intense short pulse (a billionth of a second) every time an electron bunch comes by a beam port where light travels to the experimental station it emits a short light pulse. The light pulse excites the specimen, which responds at a later time by emitting visible light. At what time the system starts to respond in emitting visible light after excitation is measured before the next pulse comes through the beam port. The decay time of the luminescence provides information about the electronic structure and optical properties of the light emitting system. Since light emission results from de-excitation and energy transfer, this process is strongly temperature dependent. TRXEOL will provide an additional dimension for the analysis of nanostructures (materials of the size of one billionth of a meter) and organic light emitting materials, which are relevant to the development of new devices and emerging lighting technology.