Luminescent and scintillation properties of orthotantalates with common formulae RETaO4 (RE = Y, Sc, La, Lu and Gd)

Abstract Samples of undoped and Ce-, Eu- and Pr-doped orthotantalates with common formulae RETaO 4 (RE = Y, Sc, La, Lu and Gd) have been obtained by solid-state reaction. Optical and luminescent characteristics in visible and UV bands have been explored. The most intense light output is determined for GdTaO 4 , YTaO 4 , and LuTaO 4 (for GdTaO 4 it is 111% compared to BGO). Among lanthanide-doped samples, the highest light output is achieved with Eu-doped YTaO 4 , GdTaO 4 and LuTaO 4 (up to 136% compared to BGO). Undoped rare-earth tantalates may be considered as promising materials for high energy physics due to extremely high density, substantial light output, and fast decay. Eu 3+ -doped orthotantalates are the brightest among the studied samples for X-ray radiography, or other application where slow decay is acceptable.