Optical transitions of different Mn-ion pairs in ZnS

Abstract

A number of zero-phonon lines in emission spectra and corresponding excitation spectra of ZnS:Mn crystals with pure cubic zinc-blende structure have been observed by site-selected spectroscopy near the transitions of isolated Mn ions. All emission lines show the same thermalization and the same decay as the single-Mn-ion emission. The position of the emission lines appears in the form of a series, the limit of which is represented by the single-Mn-ion-emission zero-phonon line. The doping-dependent relative intensities of the zero-phonon lines are compared with the statistical probability of impurity clusters. Assignments of the lines to different pairs of Mn ions with distances ranging from third-nearest neighbor to sixth-nearest neighbor are given.