Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5442591 | Optical Materials | 2017 | 4 Pages |
Abstract
Translucent LiCaBO3:Ce thin plates were prepared by liquid phase sintering using LiBO2 as a sintering aid, and their fluorescent and scintillation properties were investigated to examine the possibility to use as neutron scintillator. Since the initial part of the directionally solidified specimen contained a second phase of Ca3B2O6, LiCaBO3 may melt incongruently, and simple melt growth of LiCaBO3:Ce is consequently difficult. Translucent thin plates 300 μm in thickness were successfully fabricated from LiCaBO3:Ce sintered compacts. Although strong fluorescence with the peak wavelength of 390 nm was observed in photoluminescence measurement, scintillation light yield and detection efficiency by α-particle irradiation were rather poor. The diffuse reflectance spectrum of LiCaBO3:Ce revealed existence of an absorption band other than Ce3+ bands in the ultraviolet region. The band may corresponds to defect levels, which interrupt the energy transfer from the conduction band of the host to the 5d level of Ce3+ resulting in the degradation of the scintillation performance.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Materials Science
Ceramics and Composites
Authors
Saki Toyoda, Mikio Higuchi, Youichi Tsubota, Junichi H. Kaneko, Kiyoharu Tadanaga,