Scintillation and dosimeter properties of CaF2 transparent ceramic doped with Eu2+

We have developed CaF2 transparent ceramics doped with Eu2+(CaF2:Eu) by using spark plasma sintering (SPS), and investigated the scintillation, dosimeter and photoluminescence (PL) properties. Under X-ray irradiation, all the samples showed emission due to self-trapped excitons (STE) and 5d-4f transition of Eu2+ at 300 and 430 nm, respectively. In addition, weak emission due to the 4f-4f transitions of Eu3+ at 570, 590, 615 and 625 nm were also present in all the samples. Under 137Cs irradiation, the light yields of the 0.01, 0.02, 0.05 and 0.1 Eu-doped samples were estimated to be 16,400, 15,400, 17,700 and 14,300 photons/MeV, respectively. Thermally stimulated luminescence (TSL) glow curves of all the samples exhibited glow peaks at 100 and 180 °C, and these intensities increased linearity as a function of X-ray dose from 0.1 to 1000 mGy. Furthermore, the CaF2:Eu showed not only TSL but also optically stimulated luminescence (OSL).