Evaluation of characterization of rare-earth doped sesquioxide ceramic scintillators

We investigated basic optical and scintillation properties of pure Y2O3, Tm3+-doped Y2O3, pure Lu2O3 and Nd3+-doped Lu2O3 transparent ceramics made by a sintering method. All ceramic samples showed 60–80% transparency, and some absorption bands due to Nd3+ 4f–4f transition were observed in Nd3+:Lu2O3 ceramic. Both Tm3+:Y2O3 and Nd3+:Lu2O3 ceramics showed sharp luminescence lines corresponding to the 4f–4f transition under 285 nm (Tm3+:Y2O3) and 340 nm (Nd3+:Lu2O3) excitation. The photoluminescence decay times were calculated to be about 24 μs for Tm3+:Y2O3 and 1 μs for Nd3+:Lu2O3, respectively. In radioluminescence measurements, Tm3+ and Nd3+ 4f–4f luminescence were observed for Tm3+-doped Y2O3 and Nd3+-doped Lu2O3 ceramics under 241Am 5.5 MeV α-ray excitation. Finally scintillation light yield was investigated with pulse height analysis.

► We prepared Tm3+: Y2O3 and Nd3+:Lu2O3 transparent ceramics by a sintering method.
► All ceramic samples showed 60-80% transparency in 350-900 nm.
► Tm3+ and Nd3+ 4f-4f luminescence was observed for the samples under α-ray excitation.
► The relative light yield was less than 3 % of that of BGO under 241Am irradiation.