Basic Properties of Ceramic Pr:LuAG Scintillators

Abstract

This paper describes the first report of a Pr 3+ -doped transparent ceramic Lu3Al5O12(Pr:LuAG) scintillator. Transparent ceramic Pr 0.25 mol% doped LuAG was developed by a sintering method, and achieved 70% transparency at wavelengths longer than 310 nm. The emission wavelength of the ceramic Pr:LuAG shifts to longer wavelengths than that of its single crystalline counterpart. The light yield was measured by irradiation of 137 Cs, and was almost half as that of the single crystalline counterpart. The energy resolution at 662 keV was 12% which was about three times as worse as that of the single crystalline one. The decay time showed a big difference with the single crystalline one because its slower component disappeared due to defects.

Scintillation properties of transparent Lu3Al5O12 (LuAG) ceramics doped with different concentrations of Pr3+

“…Similar to the materials listed above, the Nd-doped Lu 3 [11], and recently, some other groups demonstrated their progress on research of these materials [12,13]. These following communications reported not scintillation but photo-luminescence performance of these ceramics which sometimes differs from scintillation responses.…”

Growth and luminescence characteristics of Pr3+-doped Lu0.8Sc0.2BO3 single crystal

“…The similar absorption band can be also seen in Lu 2 Si 2 O 7 :Pr 3+ [20] and LuAG:Pr 3+ crystals [21], which belongs to the 4f 2 → 4f 1 5d transitions of Pr 3+ . The dispersion of the on-set of the cut-off edge locates at 250 nm, which has obviously blue-shift comparing to the value of LuAG:Pr 3+ crystal round 300 nm [22] and similar with the value of Lu 2 Si 2 O 7 :Pr 3+ [23]. Although the maximum optical transmittance of Lu 0.8 Sc 0.2 BO 3 :1 at%Pr 3+ crystals with 1 mm and 3 mm thickness both can reach ∼76%, there is an significant absorption valley locating in the region from 250 to 600 nm.…”

“…This advantage makes the praseodymium-doped scintillators have always been the concern of researchers until now [20][21][22]. However, to our knowledge, there is no report about the luminescence characteristics of praseodymium doped lutetium scandium orthoborate crystal.…”

Microstructure, optical, and scintillation characteristics of Pr3+ doped Lu3Al5O12 optical ceramics

“…% Pr:LuAG ceramics. 18, the latter demonstrated an energy resolution of 12% at 662 keV irradiated by 137 Cs in Pr:LuAG ceramics of 0.25 mol %. 8͒.…”

“…10,11 More recently, also fast emitting Ce 3+ centers were employed in YAG and LuAG scintillation ceramics 12,13 and scintillation decays ͑SDs͒ dominated by several tens of ns decay times were demon-strated. Yanagida et al 18 has recently reported fabrication of 0.25 mol % Pr:LuAG ceramics, the transmission of which reaches 70% beyond 310 nm. 13 Growth of Pr-doped LuAG SCs has been reported by either Czochralski or micropulling-down ͑PD͒ method.…”