  Photoluminescence study using the 325 nm He-Cd excitation is reported for the
Au nanoclusters embedded in SiO2 matrix. Au clusters are grown by ion beam
mixing with 100 KeV Ar+ irradiation on Au [40 nm]/SiO2 at various fluences and
subsequent annealing at high temperature. The blue bands above ~3 eV match
closely with reported values for colloidal Au nanoclusters and supported Au
nanoislands. Radiative recombination of sp electrons above Fermi level to
occupied d-band holes are assigned for observed luminescence peaks. Peaks at
3.1 eV and 3.4 eV are correlated to energy gaps at the X- and L-symmetry
points, respectively, with possible involvement of relaxation mechanism. The
blue shift of peak positions at 3.4 eV with decreasing cluster size is reported
to be due to the compressive strain in small clusters. A first principle
calculation based on density functional theory using the full potential linear
augmented plane wave plus local orbitals (FP-LAPW+LO) formalism with
generalized gradient approximation (GGA) for the exchange correlation energy is
used to estimate the band gaps at the X- and L-symmetry points by calculating
the band structures and joint density of states (JDOS) for different strain
values in order to explain the blueshift of ~0.1 eV with decreasing cluster
size around L-symmetry point.
