Luminescent nanostructures based on colour centres produced in LiF films by direct writing with X-ray microprobe

Low-dimensionality photoluminescent patterns based on broad-band visible-emitting F2 and F3 + colour centres have been realised in Lithium Fluoride films by direct writing with a focused soft X-ray beam provided at the ELETTRA synchrotron radiation facility. Permanent fluorescent lines, with typical width from few hundreds of nanometers to tens of micrometers, have been prepared by scanning the LiF specimen with respect to the X-ray microprobe and imaged by confocal laser and near-field optical microscopy in fluorescence configuration. The use of this versatile lithographic technique offers the opportunity to integrate active and passive optical components, like waveguides and gratings, in this promising material, grown by simple and well assessed film deposition methods on different substrates.