Cathodoluminescence (CL) is a non-destructive technique to characterize optical and electronic properties of nanostructures in many kinds of materials. Major subject is to investigate basic parameters in semiconductors, impurities in oxides and phase determination of minerals. CL is similar to photoluminescence (PL) technique, but the excitation by high energy electrons can produce all the transition to the higher energy excitation states and induce light emission in the wide energy range concerned with versatile types of electronic transitions in materials
