Complex of heavy magnetic ions and luminescent silicon nanoparticles

We study the optical properties of luminescent silicon nanoparticles in the presence of magnetic ions of iron or erbium in solution and electric biasing. Upon the introduction of the ions under zero biasing, the luminescence is enhanced to by 50%. The peak position of the nanoparticle's spectrum shifts by 10 nm. The enhancement remains stable even outside of the solvent, and under exposure to an ionizing environment, with electric eld as high as 8 MV=m exceeding the breakdown eld value of solution. We attribute the enhancement and spectral change to the formation of complex between the silicon nanoparticles and the ions. We compare these results with the computational study that was done in our group using density functional theory. The calculations yield two stable con gurations that such ion-particle complex could form, with binding energy of 0:49 eV between the ion and the nanoparticle. The complexes promise diverse applications in magnetic/optical imaging, spatially programmable deposition, spin-based memories and transistors, infrared communications, ltration, as well as interplanetary and interstellar observation and modeling