Nd concentration dependence on the optical and scintillation properties of Nd doped BaF2

Nd concentration dependence on the scintillation properties of Ndx Ba1−x F2+x (x = 0.001–0.5) crystals were investigated. From X-ray induced emission spectra, the intensity from an intrinsic luminescence of BaF2 including core-valence luminescence and self-trapped-exciton (STE) emission were decreased with an increase of Nd concentration. Decay times under 241Am α-ray excitation were evaluated by the Photomultiplier Tube (PMT) Hamamatsu R8778 that was sensitive across the vacuum ultra-violet (VUV) and visible wavelength range. The average decay times indicated that Nd doped BaF2 with lower Nd concentration has obviously slower decay times than that of samples with higher Nd concentration because the decay time of STE emission was slower than that of the core–valence luminescence in BaF2 and the emission of 5d–4f transition on Nd3+. The light yield of fast Nd3+ 5d–4f luminescence was quite lower than STE emission of BaF2.