Fabrication and optical properties of cerium doped Lu3Ga3Al2O12 scintillation ceramics

Cerium doped lutetium aluminum garnet single crystal has been drawing great research interest of scientists due to its superior performance in scintillation material for high energy particle detection. However, the problem about slow components in the scintillation response restricts the further improving. Here, we utilize the “band-gap engineering” strategy that the admixture of Ga3+ in Lu3Al5O12 can lower the conduction band edge and bury shallow traps, and get the Ce3+ doped Lu3Ga3Al2O12 scintillation ceramics sintered in the oxygen atmosphere and hot isostatic pressing post-treated. The luminescence and scintillation properties are investigated. A shortened dominant decay time and the presence of some second slower components in the photoluminescence decays prove that the admixture of Ga3+ in Lu3Al5O12 can lower the conduction band edge and consequently also the ionization barrier for Ce3+ emission from 5d1 level. Meanwhile, the Ce:Lu3Ga3Al2O12 ceramic sample shows good steady-state scintillation efficiency under the X-ray excitation. Furthermore, it performs excellent in terms of the fast-to-slow emission ratio in scintillation response with a LY0.5μs/LY6μs values ratio up to 92%.