Study on damage process and hydrogen effect in Li₂ZrO₃ by using ion-induced luminescence

Ion-beam analysis techniques were employed to examine a dynamic damage process and the relation between hydrogen and oxygen deficiencies in lithium zirconate (Li₂ZrO₃). Ion-induced luminescence was measured under irradiation of protons and helium ions in the energy range of 0.2-2 MeV. The luminescent intensity at around 2.9 eV was proportional to the projected range of incident ions, independent of the electronic energy loss. During ion irradiation, the luminescent intensity monotonically decreased with increasing fluence. This decrease could be explained by a simple model that included annihilation and production processes based on nuclear collisions. At room temperature, hydrogen atoms were uniformly distributed in samples with a maximum concentration of 15 at.%. The samples with a higher hydrogen concentration exhibited a lower luminescent intensity; this suggested that hydrogen trapping was related to the luminescent centers in Li₂ZrO₃.