Comparative study of optical and scintillation properties of Ce:YAGG, Ce:GAGG and Ce:LuAGG transparent ceramics

摘要

We investigated photoluminescence (PL) and scintillation properties of 0.8 mol % Ce-doped (Y, Gd, Lu)₃Al₂Ga₃O₁₂ (Ce:YAGG, Ce:GAGG and Ce:LuAGG) transparent ceramics, which were fabricated by the vacuum sintering method. The obtained samples showed a strong and broad PL emission in the wavelength range from 470 to 600 nm owing to 5d–4f transitions of Ce3+. The PL and scintillation decay curves consisted of two or three exponential components, and the primary components ranged around 35–43 ns. Besides, the scintillation spectra excited by X-rays showed similar features with those in PL. In the X-ray induced afterglow measurements, the Ce:LuAGG sample exhibited the weakest afterglow intensity. The pulse height spectra of these samples showed clear photoabsorption peaks. Among those samples, Ce:LuAGG sample showed the highest scintillation light yield of 18,700 ph/MeV.