Visible–Near Infrared Scintillation Properties of Er-Doped Bi₄Si₃O₁₂ Single Crystals

Abstract

We synthesized the 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0% Er-doped Bi4Si3O12 (BSO) single crystals and researched the photoluminescence (PL) and scintillation properties in visible–near infrared ranges. The X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that the synthesized samples had single-phase structure of BSO. In transmission spectra, all the samples had some absorption peaks owing to the 4f-4f transitions of Er3+ ions. In PL and scintillation properties, all the samples had the emission peaks due to the 6p-6s transition of Bi3+ ions and the 4f-4f transitions of Er3+ ions. Afterglow levels at 20 ms after X-ray irradiation of the 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0% Er-doped samples were 348.9, 587.9, 616.6, and 666.6 ppm, respectively. The light yields of the 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0% Er-doped samples were 1600, 1200, 900, and 750 ± 10% ph/MeV, respectively. The dose rate response functions of all the samples showed the linear relationship between dose rate and scintillation intensity from 0.006 to 6 Gy/h, and the 2.0% Er-doped sample had the highest intensity among the samples

Er-Doped Mg4Ta2O9 Single-Crystal Scintillators Emitting Near-Infrared Photons for High-Dose Field Monitoring

“…The excitation wavelength of the intrinsic luminescence of Mg4Ta2O9 is 220 nm [32], which is outside the measurable range of the instrument used in this study, so no emission was observed in Figure 3a. In Figure 3b, an emission peak at 1550 nm under excitation light at 380 nm and 520 nm was observed, which was attributed to the 4f−4f transitions of Er 3+ [43,44]. The spectral characteristics of the other samples were consistent with that of the Mg4Ta2O9 doped with 0.1% Er.…”

“…For comparison, the Z eff , density, dose-response characteristics, and photodetector are summarized in Table 1. The dose rate response functions of Erdoped BGO and Bi 4 Si 3 O 12 (BSO) NIR scintillators evaluated in the same measurement system have been reported to show a lower detection limit of 0.006 Gy/h [44,49]. Previous studies reported a lower detection limit of 0.8 Gy/h in measurement systems combining commercially available Pr-doped Gd 2 O 2 S and Si-based photodetectors, 0.3 Gy/h for a system combining a Pr-doped BaTi 4 O 9 and an InGaAs-based photodetector, and 0.06 Gy/h for a Nd-doped SrY 2 O 4 and InGaAs-based system.…”