Optical and scintillation characteristics of Y2O3 transparent ceramic

Various fundamental characteristics of Y2O3 ceramics, such as optical transmittance, reflectivity, absorption coefficient, refractive index, and dielectric constant, were investigated. Furthermore, in order to evaluate the possible application of this material as gamma-ray scintillator, other radiation responses, like the alpha-ray excited emission spectrum, the gamma-ray excited pulse height spectrum, the light yield, the nonproportionality, the energy resolution, and the gamma-ray excited scintillation decay curves were obtained. The light yield of Y2O3 ceramics was evaluated in about 1.13 times higher than that of Bi4Ge3O12 (BGO) : Ce single crystals and was estimated in 9300 photon/MeV. The nonproportionality measurements showed a good proportionality. The scintillation decay curve could be fitted by an exponential function characterized by a fast component of about 34 ns. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3330407]