Abstract
<jats:p>The paper presents the results of observation and investigation of the manifestations of individual molecular vibrations in polymer thermoluminescence processes. The features of these manifestations are as follows: 1) despite the quasi-continuous spectrum of trap energies for charge carriers in polymers, the activation energies, determined by fractional thermoluminescence method, exhibit discrete values; 2) these activation energy values coincide with the quanta of molecular vibrations in the system; 3) the temperature dependence of the thermoluminescence intensity reveals specific features caused by molecular vibrations. This temperature dependence, and the activation energies were experimentally investigated for polymers deposited on different substrates, polymers with varying degrees of crystallinity, and nanoscale polymer systems embedded in porous silica. The experimental results are consistent with the proposed model of the participation of molecular vibrations in the processes of charge release from traps during thermoluminescence.</jats:p>