The luminescence properties of the high-density phosphor Lu1−xNdxTaO4

A promising new type of inorganic scintillation material, M′-type Lu1−xNdxTaO4, was successfully synthesized by a solid reaction method. The structure of the material was determined by Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction data. The calculated density of Lu1−xNdxTaO4 is 9.53-9.67 g cm−3, which is the greatest among current inorganic scintillators. Upon light excitation at 355 nm, the dominant emitting transitions of Nd3+ were 4D3/2→4I13/2 and 4D3/2→4I15/2. The concentration dependences of the fluorescence intensity and fluorescence lifetime of the 4D3/2→4I13/2 transition in Lu1−xNdxTaO4 were explored. It was inferred that the optimal doping concentration of Nd3+ was approximately 5.4% and the fluorescence lifetime of the 4D3/2→4I13/2 transition in the zero-concentration limit was approximately 263.2 ns. The material is suggested to be a potential heavy scintillator due to its high density and fast luminescence decay.