Photoluminescence enhancement in Si⁺ implanted PMMA

Silicon ion implantation effects on the optical and photoluminescence (PL) properties of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) have been studied. Low-energy ion implantation (E = 30-50 keV) was carried out over a range of different ion fluences (D = 10(13)-10(17) cm(-2)). Visible PL and optical transmission spectra in the range (330-800 nm) have been measured. The existing visible range PL emission in the unimplanted PMMA samples is clearly affected by the Si+ ion implantation and the observed modification effect of photoluminescence enhancement (PLE) is essentially dependent on the implantation fluence. For certain fluences, dependent on the ion energy, the overall amplitude of the PL emission has a several times (similar to 5 times) increase. Optical absorption also gradually increases with the fluence.