ZnO as Fast Scintillators Evaluated with Ni-like Ag Laser

Abstract

A nickel-like silver laser emitting at 13.9-nm wavelength was used to evaluate the scintillation properties of a hydrothermal method grown zinc oxide (ZnO) crystal in an extreme ultraviolet region. The streak images were used to study the temperature dependence and decay time of the ZnO emission from 25 K to 298 K. Increasing the temperature within this range gradually shifts the emission peak position from 3.32 eV to 3.22 eV. Additionally, its spectrum width in full width at half maximum increases by 0.09 eV from 0.05 eV (at 25 K) to 0.14 eV (at 298 K). Finally, the measured emission decay at 105 K was fitted by a double exponential decay to be τ₁=0.88(4) ns, and τ₂=2.7(2) ns. This decay time of a few nanoseconds is sufficiently short for the characterization of laser plasma EUV sources with nanoseconds duration and is suitable for lithographic applications.