Displacement damage from particle radiation in yttrium borate phosphor doped with cerium(III) or europium(III)

This study investigates whether particle irradiation of yttrium borate doped with cerium(III) (YBO3:1% Ce3+) and yttrium borate doped with europium(III) (YBO3:6%Eu3+) can cause displacement damage and whether photoluminescent emission changes with the radiation dose. Although phosphors scintillate upon irradiation, of more interest in this study are the permanent changes caused by non-ionizing energy absorption, which alters the environment of the luminescent centers and thus the luminescence. Photoluminescence spectroscopy indicates that the emission intensity of both YBO3:1%Ce3+ and YBO3:6%Eu3+ decreases with increasing proton fluence. The sensitivity of changes in the emission intensity to proton fluence is 5 times more in the europium-doped samples than in the cerium-doped samples. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.