Multivariate analysis of Ion Beam Induced Luminescence spectra of irradiated silver ion-exchanged silicate glasses.

A multivariate analysis is used for the identification of the spectral features in Ion Beam Induced Luminescence (IBIL) spectra of soda-lime silicate glasses doped with silver by Ag(+)-Na(+) ion exchange. Both Principal Component Analysis and multivariate analysis were used to characterize time-evolving IBIL spectra of Ag-doped glasses, by means of the identification of the number and of the wavelength positions of the main luminescent features and the study of their evolution during irradiation. This method helps to identify the spectral features of the samples spectra, even when partially overlapped or less intense. This analysis procedure does not require additional input such as the number of peaks.