Energy transfer phenomena in the luminescence of wide band-gap scintillators

Luminescence and scintillation dynamics can be extensively influenced by the energy transfer processes, which is demonstrated at three selected scintillator materials: PbWO4, Ce-doped aluminium garnets and PrF3:Ce single crystals. Charge carrier retrapping processes can delay radiative recombination at the luminescence centers in an extended time scale, which makes a substantial part of generated scintillation light technically unexploitable. Correlated measurements based on time-resolved emission spectroscopy and thermoluminescence are of great help to evaluate these phenomena and to understand their microscopic origin. (C) 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.