Ce3+ doped Lu3Al5O12 ceramics prepared by spark plasma sintering technology using micrometre powders: Microstructure, luminescence, and scintillation properties

Ce3+ doped Lu3Al5O12 (Ce:LuAG) ceramics were fabricated by the solid-state reaction method through spark plasma sintering (SPS) from 1350 C to 1700 C for 5 min at a pressure of 50 MPa using micro powders. The average grain size of the SPSed ceramics gradually grew from 0.42 mu m (1400 C) to 1.55 mu m (1700 C), which is nearly one order of magnitude lower than that of vacuum sintered (VSed) Ce:LuAG ceramics (-24.6 mu m). Characteristic Ce3+ emission peaking at around 510 nm appeared and 92% photoluminescence intensity of room temperature can be reserved at 200 C revealing excellent thermal stability. The maximum radioluminescence intensity reached around 3 times of VSed Ce:LuAG ceramics and 7.8 times of BGO crystals. The maximum scintillation light yield under gamma-ray (Cs-137) excitation reached 9634 pho/MeV @ 2 mu s. It is concluded that SPS technology is a feasible way to develop Ce:LuAG ceramics and further optical enhancement can be expected.

Automated summary

Ce3+ doped Lu3Al5O12 ceramics were successfully fabricated by SPS, and their properties such as grain size and photoluminescence were investigated. The results showed that the SPS ceramics had smaller grain size, excellent thermal stability, and higher radioluminescence intensity.