Nanoengineered Gd₃Al₂Ga₃O₁₂ Scintillation Materials with Disordered Garnet Structure for Novel Detectors of Ionizing Radiation

Abstract

The search for engineering approaches to improve the scintillation properties of Gd3Al2Ga3O12 crystals and enable their production technology is of current interest. This crystal, while doped with Ce, is considered a good multi‐purpose scintillation material for detecting gamma‐quanta and neutrons. It is observed that co‐doping with Mg affected intrinsic defects in the crystal structure that create shallow electronic traps. Other point structure defects, which are based on local variations of the crystal stoichiometry, are significantly diminished by use of a co‐precipitated raw material. Nano‐structuring of the raw material enables production of a homogeneous precursor mixture for growing a crystal with minimal evaporation of Ga from the melt. The demonstrated nano‐engineering approach increased the light yield from the crystal by approximately 20%, enabling its applications in well logging.

Stable growth of (Ce,Gd)3Ga2Al3O12 crystal scintillators by the traveling solvent floating zone method

“…Considering the ionic radius of Al 3+ is smaller than that of Ga 3+ , the XRD pattern reveals a possible occupation of more Al 3+ in the GGAG lattice than Ga 3+ . 40 Table 1 Calculated lattice constants of the as-grown 1 at% Ce:GGAG crystals grown with 3 different solvent compositions, respectively…”

“…According to the Bragg equation, a lattice shrinkage is revealed. Considering the ionic radius of Al 3+ is smaller than that of Ga 3+ , the XRD pattern reveals a possible occupation of more Al 3+ in the GGAG lattice than Ga 3+ 40.…”

Nanoscale Engineering of Inorganic Composite Scintillation Materials

“…[19,20]. A possible solution was proposed in [21], where the advantage of the co-precipitation of the raw material for a solid-state synthesis being manifested. Coprecipitation allows us to achieve a high homogeneity of the component's distribution in the product, which enhances phase formation at much lower temperatures than for solid state reaction (e.g., 1000-1200 • C instead of 1400-1600 • C).…”

Structural and Optical Properties of High Entropy (La,Lu,Y,Gd,Ce)AlO3 Perovskite Thin Films

“…Successful growth, however, can be rewarding with potentially much‐improved efficiency and tunability. [ 16 , 22 , 23 ] For example, altering the concentrations of multiple A‐site cations in perovskite ABO 3 compounds has been shown to alter the bandgap and modify trap levels. Such phenomena can be observed through shifts in thermally stimulated luminescence (TSL) spectra.…”

“…[ 25 ] Additionally, mixing can cause disordering within the lattice in the form of antisite defects which can lead to new trap centers and potentially slower decay times. [ 22 , 23 ] On the other hand, the disorder has been shown to dramatically increase light yield with relatively lower afterglow while maintaining a high effective atomic number. [ 23 , 26 , 27 , 28 ] The structural disorder in these materials arises from the cation competition in occupancy of the same lattice location.…”