Consolidation of translucent Ce3+-doped Lu2SiO5 scintillation ceramics by pressureless sintering

The fabrication of Ce3+-doped lutetium oxyorthosilicate (Lu2SiO5:Ce, LSO:Ce) scintillation ceramics was investigated by pressureless sintering starting from synthetic submicrometer polycrystalline LSO: Ce powder. It was found that translucent LSO ceramics were densified successfully with relative density of 99.5% under sintering condition of 1720 degrees C for 4 h. As-sintered LSO ceramics were pore-free with average grain size of 5 mu m and exhibited a translucent state. The broad emission spectra centered at 419 nm of the LSO: Ce ceramics under vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and UV excitation at room temperature. Under x-ray excitation, the overall emission intensity of obtained LSO ceramics achieved twice of that of bismuth germanium oxide (also known as bismuth germanate) single crystal at room temperature. Under excitation of 356 nm and emission of 420 nm, the luminescence decay time of the obtained LSO scintillation ceramics reached only 21.2 ns. The light yield of the LSO ceramics was 21,300 ph/MeV, which reached 91% of that of LSO single crystal.