Evaluation of characterization of rare-earth doped sesquioxide ceramic scintillators

We investigated basic optical and scintillation properties of pure Y(2)O(3), Tm(3+)-doped Y(2)O(3), pure Lu(2)O(3) and Nd(3+)-doped Lu(2)O(3) transparent ceramics made by a sintering method. All ceramic samples showed 60-80% transparency, and some absorption bands due to Nd(3+) 4f-4f transition were observed in Nd(3+):Lu(2)O(3) ceramic. Both Tm(3+):Y(2)O(3) and Nd(3+):Lu(2)O(3) ceramics showed sharp luminescence lines corresponding to the 4f-4f transition under 285 nm (Tm(3+):Y(2)O(3)) and 340 nm (Nd(3+):Lu(2)O(3)) excitation. The photoluminescence decay times were calculated to be about 24 mu s for Tm(3+):Y(2)O(3) and 1 mu s for Nd(3+):Lu(2)O(3), respectively. In radioluminescence measurements. Tm(3+) and Nd(3+) 4f-4f luminescence were observed for Tm(3+)-doped Y(2)O(3) and Nd(3+)-doped Lu(2)O(3) ceramics under (241)Am 5.5 MeV alpha-ray excitation. Finally scintillation light yield was investigated with pulse height analysis. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.