High-efficiency SiO2:Ce3+ glass scintillators

Abstract

We present the effect of a rapid thermal treatment (RTT) at high temperature (1800 °C) on the radio-luminescence properties of Ce-doped SiO2 glasses prepared by the sol–gel method and previously densified at 1050 °C. Cerium concentrations ranging from 0.05 up to 1 mol % were considered. We found that, for all concentrations, the RTT induces a strong increase of the Ce3+ radio-luminescence efficiency; the x-ray-induced luminescence intensity of the SiO2:0.1% Ce is about twice that of Bi3Ge4O12. The decay time of the scintillation response, evaluated as ≈50 ns, is not affected by RTT. Infrared absorption measurements indicate that the luminescence increase cannot be related to significant release of OH groups during RTT. The conversion of Ce4+ ions into Ce3+ ions can also be ruled out since an increase of about 20% of the intensity of the 4.8 eV optical absorption band related to Ce4+ was observed after RTT. The occurrence of dissolution of rare-earth aggregates is suggested.

Ce-doped SiO 2 optical fibers for remote radiation sensing and measurement

“…Variables in this first phase consisted in doping with different rare earth ions (cerium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, ytterbium) and in variation of sintering conditions for Ce doped sol-gel matrices (either oxidizing or reducing atmosphere ) [22][23][24][25][26][27]. Following these previous tests, further investigation was restricted to Cerium and Europium doping.…”

“…Rare earth-doped SiO2 powders were produced by a simple modification of the synthesis published elsewhere to obtain bulk doped-samples [23]. Specifically, the Sol solution is obtained with the following composition: ethanol 99.9% 18 ml; TEOS 6 ml; water 3.6 ml and Ce(Eu)(NO3)3*12· H2O solution in ethanol (10 mg/ml) in the amount needed to obtain the proper level doping in SiO2 (the most effective doping level for Ce and Eu ions is about 600 molar ppm).…”

“…In this paper, we propose a novel type of glass composite fiber dosimeter based on the RL emission of a small portion of glass fiber doped with Cerium. Previous investigations already demonstrated the interesting RL properties of these composite fibers [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. Moreover, with the aim to better separate the Cherenkov emission from the scintillating signal [36,37] an alternative Eu doped fiber was produced, tested and compared with Ce-doped ones.…”

Silicate Glass-Based Nanocomposite Scintillators

“…30). In (Chiodini et al, 2002) strong increase of scintillation efficiency was reported at Ce-doped silicate glass after RTT treatment. In our case, similar conclusion can be drawn for the highest RTT temperature of 2000 0 C, when the spectrum remains low energy shifted compared to the situation in the powder nanocomposite annealed at 1250-1300 °C (Fig.…”

“…Following the procedure carried out at the Ce-doped silicate glasses (Chiodini et al, 2002) the samples of SiO 2 /Lu 2 Si 2 O 7 nanocomposites annealed at 1000°C were rapidly heat-treated at temperature between 1600-2000 °C. This rapid thermal treatment (RTT) consisted of 30 seconds heating period in the hydrogen-oxygen flame.…”