Synthesis of a luminescent metamaterial layer in an alkali halide matrix by implanting metal ions emitted by a low-voltage vacuum spark

The luminescent characteristics of the layers formed in the LiF and KCl crystals as a result of irradiation of the crystals by ions emitted by a small-sized low-voltage vacuum spark with a voltage < 2 kV and a pulse duration of about 1 µs were studied. The photoluminescence technique showed that because of the irradiation, layers of sub-nanoscaled metal clusters are formed in crystals. Optical characteristics of these layers are close to those of layers formed owing to irradiating of the crystals by an ion beam with energy up to 150 keV emitted by a high-voltage ion implanter MEVVA. The results show that this "table-top" source of high-energy beams of metallic ions accelerated by a collective mechanism can be used to create modified micron scale layers in optical crystals for various applications.