Characterization and scintillation properties of sol-gel derived Lu2SiO5:Ln3+ (Ln = Ce, Eu and Tb) powders

In this paper, we report the synthesis, the characterization and the scintillation properties of sol-gel derived Lu2SiO5 (LSO) powders. Ce3+, Eu3+ and Tb3+ doped LSO powders have been synthesized by an original sol-gel process. The purity of the materials has been checked by X-ray diffraction, confirming the elaboration of monophasic powders even for doped samples. Finally, the scintillation properties of the rare earth-doped materials have been studied, the substitution of Ln(3+) (Ln: Ce, Eu or Tb) for Lu3+ is confirmed, the scintillation yields have been calculated and the afterglow have also been measured, confirming the potentiality of the sol-gel derived LSO. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.