Erbium implantation in Strontium Titanate

We report on the lattice location of Er in SrTiO$_{3}$ single crystals using the emission channeling technique. The angular distribution of conversion electrons emitted from $^{167m}$Er(T$_{1/2}$=2.27 s) was monitored with a position-sensitive detector following the room-temperature 60 keV implantation of the precursor isotope $^{167}$Tm(T$_{1/2}$=9.25 d) to a dose of 2$\times$ 10$^{12}$ at./cm$^{2}$. The results for the sample annealed in vacuum at 610°C for 15 min provide direct evidence that Er occupies both Sr and Ti substitutional lattice sites. In addition, thermal recovery of lattice damage was also studied with RBS/C for SrTiO$_{3}$ implanted to doses of 5$\times$ 10$^{14}$ and 5 $\times$ 10$^{15}$ Er/cm$^{2}$. We further comment on preliminary photoluminescence results from these samples.