Characterization of Ce,Ca:LuAG ceramic scintillators fabricated from co-precipitated powders

In this work, Ce:LuAG and Ce,Ca:LuAG ceramic scintillators were vacuum sintered from the powders synthesized by the co-precipitation method. Composition and thermal behavior of the precursor, spectral and scintillation characteristics of the ceramics were investigated in detail. After calcination at 900 C, amorphous precursor was completely transformed into LuAG and nano-powder with particle size of about 40 nm was formed finally. Light yield and relative intensity of the fast component of the Ce:LuAG ceramics are higher than those of Ce:LuAG ceramics prepared by the conventional solid-state reaction method. Furthermore, the scintillation decay of the Ce,Ca:LuAG ceramics is accelerated compared to the Ce:LuAG, with the LY(0.5 mu s)/LY(3 mu s) ratio of 93%.

Automated summary

Ce:LuAG and Ce,Ca:LuAG ceramic scintillators were prepared by vacuum sintering the powders synthesized using the co-precipitation method. The composition, thermal behavior, spectral, and scintillation characteristics of the precursors and ceramics were investigated. The results showed that the Ce:LuAG ceramics had higher light yield and relative intensity of the fast component compared to those prepared by the conventional solid-state reaction method. Additionally, the scintillation decay of the Ce,Ca:LuAG ceramics was accelerated with a LY(0.5 μs)/LY(3 μs) ratio of 93%.