Optical and scintillation properties of Nd differently doped YLiF4 from VUV to NIR wavelengths

•Nd 0.1%, 0.5%, 1%, and 3% doped YLiF4 crystal scintillators were developed.•Optical and scintillation properties of Nd-doped YLiF4 were investigated from VUV to NIR wavelengths.•Thermally stimulated luminescence glow curves of Nd-doped YLiF4 were studied.•Afterglow time profiles of Nd-doped YLiF4 scintillators were evaluated.

Nd 0.1, 0.5, 1, and 3 mol% doped YLiF4 crystalline scintillators were prepared by Tokuyama Corp. and their optical and scintillation properties from vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) to near infrared (NIR) wavelengths were investigated. 4f–5d absorption bands appeared in VUV and several absorption bands due to 4f–4f transition were observed in visible-NIR wavelengths. Nd3+ 5d–4f emission was observed around 180 nm under 160 nm excitation and intense line due to 4F3/2 → 4I11/2 at 1064 nm appeared under 500 nm excitation. In X-ray induced radioluminescence, both VUV and NIR emissions were observed. Scintillation decay times of VUV emission was 40–80 ns while that of 4f–4f ones at visible wavelength were around 12–15 μs. When 252Cf neutron was irradiated, VUV scintillation light yield resulted around 90 ph/n.