Luminescence of Eu ions in AlxGa1-xN across the entire alloy composition range

Photoluminescence (PL) and PL excitation (PLE) spectra of Eu-implanted AlxGa1-xN are obtained across the whole alloy composition range. The dominant D-5(0)-F-7(2) emission band broadens and then narrows as x increases from 0 to 1 while the peak shifts monotonically. This behavior is surprisingly similar to the broadening of excitons in a semiconductor alloy caused by composition fluctuations [E. F. Schubert et al., Phys. Rev. B 30, 813 (1984). PLE spectra reveal a steplike AlxGa1-xN band-edge absorption and two "subgap" bands X-1,X-2:X-1 peaks at 3.26 eV in GaN and shifts linearly to 3.54 eV in AlN. For x > 0.6, X-2 emerges approximately 1 eV higher in energy than X-1 and shifts in a similar way. We propose that X-1,X-2 involve creation of core-excitonic complexes of Eu emitting centers