Heavily Ce3+-doped Y3Al5O12 thin films deposited by a polymer sol–gel method for fast scintillation detectors. Issue 34 (30th July 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rubešová, Kateřina; Havlíček, Jan; Jakeš, Vít; Nádherný, Ladislav; Cajzl, Jakub; Pánek, Dalibor; Parkman, Tomáš; Beitlerova, Alena; Kučerková, Romana; Hájek, František; Nikl, Martin
• Is Part Of: CrystEngComm. Volume 21:Issue 34(2019)
• Page Start: 5115
• Page End: 5123
• Publication Date: 2019-07-30
• Subjects: Crystals -- Periodicals; Crystal growth -- Periodicals; Crystallography -- Periodicals; Cristaux -- Périodiques; Cristaux -- Croissance -- Périodiques; Cristallographie -- Périodiques; 548
• DOI: 10.1039/c9ce00842j
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1466-8033

Abstract

Abstract : The performance of cerium-doped Y3 Al5 O12 (Ce 3+ :YAG) often depends on cerium solubility achievable in a particular preparation technology. Abstract : The performance of cerium-doped Y3 Al5 O12 (Ce 3+ :YAG) often depends on cerium solubility achievable in a particular preparation technology. This solubility is kinetically affected by the synthesis process which allows for Ce 3+ solubility to be generally much higher in a polycrystalline material than in single crystals. This work presents Y3− x Ce x Al5 O12 polycrystalline thin films deposited by spin-coating where cerium is substituted on yttrium sites in an interval of 3.3–25 at%. Up to a concentration of 18 at%, the samples remain single-phase, which is the highest Ce 3+ doping level in YAG published so far. Absorption, excitation and emission photoluminescence spectra are presented. The photoluminescence decays of the samples containing up to 6 at% cerium are comparable in radiative lifetime to those of Ce 3+ :YAG single crystals having the cerium concentration limit over one order smaller. The cathodoluminescence of the samples and soft X-ray nanosecond pulse-excited decays are examined. The scintillation decays appear much faster with a 1/e decay time well below 10 ns compared to that of a Ce 3+ :YAG single crystal which is 140 ns. After further optimization of the microstructure and the overall scintillation yield, sol–gel prepared Ce 3+ :YAG thin films are promising candidates for application in fast SEM scintillation detectors, currently intensively investigated in the scintillator technology field.