title: High spatial dynamics-photoluminescence imaging reveals the metallurgy of the earliest lost-wax cast object.
abstract: Photoluminescence spectroscopy is a key method to monitor defects in semiconductors from nanophotonics to solar cell systems. Paradoxically, its great sensitivity to small variations of local environment becomes a handicap for heterogeneous systems, such as are encountered in environmental, medical, ancient materials sciences and engineering. Here we demonstrate that a novel full-field photoluminescence imaging approach allows accessing the spatial distribution of crystal defect fluctuations at the crystallite level across centimetre-wide fields of view. This capacity is illustrated in archaeology and material sciences. The coexistence of two hitherto indistinguishable non-stoichiometric cuprous oxide phases is revealed in a 6,000-year-old amulet from Mehrgarh (Baluchistan, Pakistan), identified as the oldest known artefact made by lost-wax casting and providing a better understanding of this fundamental invention. Low-concentration crystal defect fluctuations are readily mapped within ZnO nanowires. High spatial dynamics-photoluminescence imaging holds great promise for the characterization of bulk heterogeneous systems across multiple disciplines.
authors.affiliation: IPANEMA, CNRS, ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, USR 3461, Université Paris-Saclay, 91128 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.|Synchrotron SOLEIL, 91128 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thoury
authors.affiliation: C2RMF, Palais du Louvre, 75001 Paris, France.|PréTech, CNRS, Université Paris Nanterre, UMR 7055, 92023 Nanterre, France.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mille
authors.affiliation: IPANEMA, CNRS, ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, USR 3461, Université Paris-Saclay, 91128 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.|Synchrotron SOLEIL, 91128 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Séverin-Fabiani
authors.affiliation: TRACES, CNRS, ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, Université Toulouse-Jean Jaurès, UMR 5608, 31100 Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Robbiola
authors.affiliation: Synchrotron SOLEIL, 91128 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Réfrégiers
authors.affiliation: ArScAn, CNRS, Université Paris Nanterre, Université Paris 1, ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, UMR 7041, 92023 Nanterre, France.|Institut de France, 23 quai de Conti, 75006 Paris, France.
authors.forename: J-F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Jarrige
authors.affiliation: IPANEMA, CNRS, ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, USR 3461, Université Paris-Saclay, 91128 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.|Synchrotron SOLEIL, 91128 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bertrand