It was noted that the characteristic lifetimes of radioactive isotopes could be used to label and identify the defect levels which were revealed by photoluminescence data. This possibility was demonstrated in the case of GaAs which was doped with radioactive 111In. During its decay to 111Cd, all of the photoluminescence peaks with which Cd acceptors were associated increased. By deriving a quantitative relationship between the photoluminescence intensity and the Cd concentration, it was shown that this intensity increase was governed only by the nuclear lifetime of 111In. In this way, a complete and independent identification of Cd-related photoluminescence peaks in GaAs could be obtained.

R.Magerle, A.Burchard, M.Deicher, T.Kerle, W.Pfeiffer, E.Recknagel: Physical Review Letters, 1995, 75[8], 1594-7