Synthesis and characterization of scintillating cerium-doped lanthanum fluoride nanocrystals

Luminescent and scintillating properties of lanthanum fluoride nanocrystals in response to gamma/neutron irradiation: codoping with Ce activator, Yb wavelength shifter, and Gd neutron captor

“…Because of shield considerations for the 252 Cf, a constant distance of 12 cm and a source centered at bottom side of the cuvette were used for the acquisition of all data using this specific source (elapsed time of 12 hs for each experiment). The results are presented here and compared with the ones reported elsewhere by Osinskiet al [7] on lanthanum fluoride SNCs.…”

“…For example, comparing LaF3:Ce against NaI:Tl and LaBr3:Ce, a factor three and five of less light yield output can be noticed, respectively [2]. However it is expected that this limitation can be lifted in nanostructure materials of identical composition, due to their small particle size (D < 20 nm), that is shorter than the intrinsic scintillation wavelength [6,7]. Since light yield output is a sensitive parameter in scintillators engineering, it must be improved because the final energy resolution of the scintillator is defined with this value, R = E / E ~ 2.35 / Nphe, which it is the full width at half maximum of the photo peak (E) at a certain energy (E), and Nphe is the total number of photoelectrons generated in the photo-sensor [2,8].…”

“…The initial motivation force of this work was to maximize the outcoming scintillating light at the desired wavelength range close to the maximum sensitivity of the photocathode's material ~ (450 +-50) nm. Our previous effort was oriented in the single doped nanocrystals of LaF3:Ce [7]. The plan to use Yb ) in KPb2Cl5 host crystals [13].…”

“…Compared with their bulk counterparts, nanocrystalline colloidal scintillators are comparatively easy to produce, flexible, and potentially less expensive than single-crystal scintillators [6][7][8].…”

“…With the aim to make the nanoscintillator sensitive to neutron radiation, gadolinium (Gd) is a suitable ion for neutron conversion due to its superior thermal neutron absorption cross-section mainly due tothe neutron absorption produced in 157 Gd [7,9,11]. After the neutron capture in 157 Gd, the 158 Gdisotope decays emitting prompt gamma rays, internal conversion electrons, and X-rays.…”