Luminescent defects were found to appear in crystals that were deformed plastically at 4.2K. Their spectra were studied at 4.2K, and compared with those reported for self-trapped excitons and localized excitons; created in alkali halide crystals by plastic deformation at 295K. The numbers and origin of the defects were found to depend upon the stress level, deformation temperature and crystal plasticity. The emission bands were attributed to excitons that were localized near to various crystal structure defects, and were divided into 3 groups; according to the crystal lattice relaxation. A method was proposed, for the determination of the defect structure, on the basis of the characteristics of the corresponding exciton luminescences.

Luminescent Defects Created in Alkali Iodides by Plastic Deformation at 4.2K. V.Babin, A.Elango, K.Kalder, A.Maaroos, K.Shunkeev, E.Vasilchenko, S.Zazubovich: Journal of Luminescence, 1999, 81[1], 71-7