Abstract

The isothermal luminescence decay method, one of the two basic types of relaxation methods, can be used to study the electron hole reaction kinetics in solids. The kinetic theories developed, pertaining to the electron - hole recombination reactions based on the theories of simple mono-and bi-molecular reactions and statistical thermodynamic theory of absolute reaction rates could not satisfactorily fit in nor explain the experimentally observed decays. The lack of correlation between theory and experiment is to be traced back to the need of an ‘apriori’ assumption of the order of kinetics parameter. Even the second type of relaxation, namely the non-isothermal relaxation in the form of thermally stimulated luminescence and thermally stimulated conductivity, can at best give estimates of the thermal activation energies or the trap depths, only when the order of kinetics parameter is obtained from other measurements.

© 1984 Optical Society of America