Residual stress effect on luminescence of CeBr3 and its application as a pressure-memory material

Abstract Photoluminescence spectra of CeBr3 powder compacts with various compaction pressures have been measured under ambient conditions and they are found significantly redshifted compared with those of the original powder by nearly 20 nm (∼1440 cm−1) at the compaction pressure of ∼1.0 GPa. The spectral shift increases extremely rapidly with the compaction pressure and then plateaus at ∼1.0 GPa. The observed residual stress effect of the CeBr3 powder on the luminescence spectra is much larger than that of the EuCl2 powder reported previously. The luminescence peak wavelength of the compact can be easily tuned between 360 and 380 nm by simply changing the compaction pressure applied to the CeBr3 powder. With a very large residual stress effect of the CeBr3 powder on the photoluminescence spectra, this material would make a good pressure-memory material which may be used as a kind of pressure sensor in high-pressure experiments.