# Defect-Selective Luminescence in Hydroxyapatite Under Electron and Gallium Ion Beams

## TL;DR

This paper shows how electron and ion beams can control luminescence in hydroxyapatite by activating or deactivating specific defects.

## Contribution

The study reveals defect-selective luminescence in hydroxyapatite under electron and gallium ion irradiation, enabling defect engineering.

## Key findings

- Electron irradiation activates OH-channel vacancies, causing a two-stage luminescent response followed by defect annealing.
- Ga+ ion irradiation selectively quenches luminescence by annealing oxygen vacancies in PO43− groups.
- Irradiation offers a versatile method for defect engineering in hydroxyapatite, influencing optical and bioimaging properties.

## Abstract

We report a defect-selective luminescence response in calcium-deficient hydroxyapatite (HAp) induced by electron and ion irradiation. Compacted HAp pellets prepared from hydrothermally grown nanofibers were investigated to analyze defect-related luminescence using photoluminescence (PL) and cathodoluminescence (CL) techniques, both before and after compaction. Low-energy electron beam irradiation (15 keV) produced a two-stage luminescent response, an initial enhancement arising from field-assisted activation of OH-channel vacancies (VOH and VOH + Hi), followed by an exponential decay attributed to defect annealing. Monochromatic transient CL measurements show that this rise–decay behavior is selective to the OH-related bands at 2.57 and 2.95 eV, whereas the 3.32 and 3.67 eV emissions exhibit only a monotonic exponential decay. The corresponding decay constants further indicate that the activated OH-channel vacancies anneal more rapidly than the other centers, consistent with their higher electron-capture probability and lower structural stability. In contrast, Ga+ ion irradiation (30 keV, 1.4 × 10−13 A/µm2) induced progressive monotonic luminescence quenching, primarily driven by selective annealing of oxygen vacancies in PO43− groups. These complementary pathways, electron-induced activation and ion-driven suppression, demonstrate that irradiation serves as a versatile tool for defect engineering in hydroxyapatite. Beyond providing fundamental insights into vacancy stability, these results open new routes for tailoring the optical, sensing, and bioimaging functionalities of HAp through controlled irradiation.