Beta Radiation Hardness of GYGAG(Ce) Transparent Ceramic Scintillators

Lanthanoid-doped quaternary garnets as phosphors for high brightness cathodoluminescence-based light sources

“…A two-step device first converting the ionizing radiation of the radioisotope to light in a radiation-hard and temperature-tolerant phosphor, then transforming the light to electric current using a remote photodetector might be an attractive solution in space and certain ground applications. GYAGG (Ce) ceramics is already recognized to be very radiation hard material [ 36 ]. The high-light-yield ceramic mix of GYAGG:Eu and GYAGG:Tb and ceramic GYAGG:Eu with the emission spectrum in red region well-matched with the sensitivity spectrum of mature photodetectors is a good candidate for such two-step radioisotope photovoltaic converter.…”

Radiation hardness of polycrystalline ceramic scintillators for radioisotope batteries

“…The optical absorption spectrum of the scintillators was measured at room temperature before and after irradiation using a Thermo Evolution 220 UV-Vis spectrometer. As shown in Figure 5, the absorption to shorter wavelengths increased after ion beam irradiation 14 . The optical absorption around the emission wavelength of GYGAG(Ce), which is from approximately 450 to 700 nm, does not appreciably increase above 500 nm after irradiation.…”

“…Figure 2. Several of the unirradiated transparent GYGAG(Ce) samples used in the electron irradiation experiment 14 .…”

“…By heating the scintillating material, some amount of diffusion of defects can be annealed out of the material. For beta and gamma irradiation, this consists of the removal of color centers by supplying sufficient thermal energy to the trapped charge, recombination of vacancy and interstitial defect pairs, and the formation of neutral defect complexes [14][15][16] . Similar recovery can be observed in alpha and heavy ion irradiated material along the pathlength of the particles, where the introduced vacancies and interstitials can recombine.…”

Development and prospects of garnet ceramic scintillators: A review

“…In 2014, the large-size GYGAG:Ce transparent ceramic sample with 5.6 in 3 was prepared and still maintained an excellent energy resolution of 3%, whose performance on γ-ray spectroscopy was much better than that of NaI:Tl [129]. In 2022, Jarrell et al [235] proved that the GYGAG:Ce ceramic samples from the LLNL had high β radiation hardness. No significant decrease in the LY was observed after the irradiation with electrons for 3100 MGy, confirming its potential for the applications in indirect conversion nuclear batteries.…”