Daisuke Nakauchi

Optical and scintillation properties of Nd-doped SrAl2O4 crystals

Abstract Nd-doped SrAl2O4 (Nd:SrAl2O4) crystals were prepared by a floating zone (FZ) method with different dopant concentrations. The photoluminescence (PL) measurements under visible light excitations confirmed strong near infrared (NIR) emissions around 890 nm, which is due to the 4f-4f transitions of Nd3+, and the decay time constants were 300–400 μs. Furthermore, VUV excitations revealed two broad emissions around 250–450 and 500–700 nm, which were attributed to self-trapped excitons (STEs) perturbed by Nd3+. Moreover, the X-ray induced scintillation spectra showed some small peaks at around 380 nm in addition to NIR emissions at 1064 nm similarly seen in PL. The former scintillation decay time constants were 30–40 μs. In the undoped sample, these emissions mentioned above were not present but a weak broad emission around 450 nm appeared. In thermally stimulated luminescence (TSL) after X-ray irradiation, strong TSL glow peaks were observed in the Nd-doped samples at around 100 and 250 °C.

Luminescent and scintillation properties of Ce-doped Tb3Al5O12 crystal grown from Al-rich composition

A Ce-doped Tb3Al5O12 single crystal was successfully synthesized via the floating zone method in an Al-rich composition. In both photoluminescence and scintillation, the emissions were predominantly due to the 5d–4f transitions of Ce3+ peaking around 550 nm, but emissions due to defects and the 4f–4f transitions of Tb3+ were revealed by the time-resolved analyses. The crystal quality and luminescence intensity were sufficiently high such that the crystal was applicable for pulse-height spectrum measurement. Under 137Cs γ-ray exposure, a clear photoabsorption peak was observed, and the estimated light yield was 57,000 photons/MeV.

Luminescence and scintillation properties of Rb2HfCl6 crystals

We developed a scintillator based on a Rb2HfCl6 crystal as a ternary halide crystal with intrinsic luminescence. In the photoluminescence spectra, two emission bands are observed at 383 and 434 nm. The 434 nm emission band for Rb2HfCl6 may be attributed to [HfCl6]2− complex ion or [ZrCl6]2− impurity, since the Rb2HfCl6 contained Zr as impurity at 0.62 mol %. The radioluminescence band is observed at 420 nm and can be attributed to the same origin as the photoluminescence band at 434 nm. The scintillation decay-time constants were 0.84 and 5.4 µs. The light yield was estimated to be 24,100 photons/MeV.

Fast and high light yield scintillation in the Ga2O3 semiconductor material

We report the distinct scintillation properties of the well-known Ga2O3 semiconductor material. Under UV excitation, the photoluminescence (PL) emission peak appeared near a wavelength of 380 nm with a quantum yield of 6%, and fast decays of 8 and 793 ns were observed. In contrast, the X-ray-induced scintillation spectrum showed an intense emission band near a wavelength of 380 nm, whose decay curve was reproduced using two exponential decay components with time constants of 8 and 977 ns. The pulse height spectrum of 137Cs γ-rays measured using Ga2O3 showed a clear photoabsorption peak with a light yield of 15000 ± 1500 photons/MeV.

Luminescence and scintillation properties of Tl- and In-doped CsCl crystals

The luminescence and scintillation properties of Tl- and Ce-doped Cs2HfCl6 crystals were investigated by photoluminescence and radioluminescence spectroscopy. In the photoluminescence spectra, emission bands of the activators were observed at 500 nm for Tl-doped Cs2HfCl6, and at 340 and 380 nm for Ce-doped Cs2HfCl6. The radioluminescence bands were observed at 405 and 430 nm for Tl- and Ce-doped Cs2HfCl6, respectively. Scintillation decay time constants for the Tl- and Ce-doped Cs2HfCl6 were smaller than those for the corresponding undoped crystals. Scintillation light yields for Tl- and Ce-doped Cs2HfCl6 were estimated to be 23,700 and 15,700 photons/MeV, respectively.

Photoluminescence, scintillation and thermally-stimulated luminescence properties of Tb-doped 12CaO·7Al 2 O 3 single crystals grown by FZ method

Abstract Tb-doped 12CaO·7Al 2 O 3 (Tb:C12A7) crystals were synthesized by the floating zone (FZ) method and the photoluminescence (PL), scintillation and thermally-stimulated luminescence (TSL) properties were investigated. The photoluminescence (PL) emission spectra and PL decay time profiles were investigated by using Quantaurus-tau (Hamamatsu). The scintillation spectra and decay time profiles were measured by using our laboratory-constructed set-up under X-ray irradiation. Finally, TSL glow curve was measured by using Nanogray TL-2000 with the heating rate of 1 °C/s. In PL and scintillation, emission peaks were observed at 493, 543, 587 and 620 nm due to the 4f-4f transitions of Tb 3+ . Decay time constants of the emission by PL and scintillation appeared to be different, and the measured values were approximately 2.4 and 1.9 ms, respectively. After X-ray irradiations, the 0.5% (all Tb contents in this paper are in mole fraction) and 1.0% Tb-doped samples showed a single intense and broad glow peak around 100 °C while 1.2%−1.5% Tb-doped samples showed notable additional peak around 250 °C.