Luminescence properties of the Mg co-doped Ce:SrHfO3 ceramics prepared by the Spark Plasma Sintering Method

摘要

1300 or 1400 degrees C pre-sintered Al/Ce/Mg:SrHfO3 and Al/Ce:SrHfO3 ceramics were prepared by the Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) in order to search for a new scintillation material with a high-effective atomic number(Z(eff)) and good light output. The SrHfO3 has a high Z(eff) of 60, and high gamma-ray detection efficiency is expected. Meanwhile it has a high melting point of over 2500 degrees C, and single crystal is hard to be grown. On the other hand, high melting materials can be prepared as ceramics, and the SPS method is a simple process to fabricate the ceramics within a few hours. Thus, we prepared the samples using the SPS method, and their optical and scintillation properties were investigated. We found that Al/Ce/Mg:SrHfO3 and Al/Ce:SrHfO3 ceramics had an emission wavelength at around 400 nm originating from 5d-4f transition of Ce3+. Moreover, Al/Ce/Mg:SrHfO3 pre-sintered at a temperature of 1400 degrees C had a light output of approximately 5,000 ph/MeV. In this paper, the light output of Mg-co-doped samples was improved compared with the Mg-free ones. The light output also depends on the pre-sintering temperature. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.