Comparison of photoluminescence and scintillation properties between Lu2O3:Eu single crystal and transparent ceramic

Lu2O3:Eu single crystal (SC) and transparent ceramic (TC) were prepared by Optical Floating Zone (OFZ) method and Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) sintering method respectively. Their photoluminescence and scintillation properties, including photoluminescence excitation (PLE) and photoluminescence (PL), PL decay, X-ray excited luminescence (XEL) and afterglow level curves were measured and compared. Their transmission spectra were also recorded. The differences of the PL and scintillation performance between Lu2O3:Eu SC and TC have been studied. It is shown that the transmittance of SC is higher than that of TC, reaching as high as 80%. The Eu(S6)→Eu(C2) energy transfer states in SC and TC are comparable through investigating the PL and PL decay curves. The main difference between SC and TC in this work comes from the scintillation luminescence efficiency and afterglow level. The XEL intensity of SC is 2.4 times that of TC. The afterglow level of TC is significant higher than SC, which is probably resulted from the carrier traps formed in the forbidden gap related to the grain interface in ceramics sample.