Crystals (Feb 2025)

Crystal Growth and Energy Transfer Study in Ce<sup>3+</sup> and Pr<sup>3+</sup> Co-Doped Lu<sub>2</sub>Si<sub>2</sub>O<sub>7</sub>

  • Yuka Abe,
  • Takahiko Horiai,
  • Yuui Yokota,
  • Masao Yoshino,
  • Rikito Murakami,
  • Takashi Hanada,
  • Akihiro Yamaji,
  • Hiroki Sato,
  • Yuji Ohashi,
  • Shunsuke Kurosawa,
  • Kei Kamada,
  • Akira Yoshikawa

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst15030202
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 3
p. 202

Abstract

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Ce-doped Lu2Si2O7 has a high density, high luminescence efficiency even at high temperatures, and a high effective atomic number, making it a promising candidate for use as a radiation detector in medical devices and resource exploration equipment. In this study, we grow and characterize Pr3+ and Ce3+-doped Lu2Si2O7 single crystals by systematically varying the Ce3+ to Pr3+ ratio to further improve scintillation properties. The optical characterization results show a bidirectional energy transfer: from the Pr3+ 5d levels to the Ce3+ 5d levels and from the Ce3+ 5d levels to the Pr3+ 4f levels. Consistently with this result, the PL decay time of emission from the Pr3+ 5d–4f transition tends to become faster as the Ce3+/Pr3+ ratio increases, due to the energy transfer from the Pr3+ 5d levels to the Ce3+ 5d levels. Additionally, (Ce0.0022 Pr0.0016 Lu0.9962)2Si2O7 exhibits a high light yield comparable to Ce-doped Lu2Si2O7 and a slightly faster decay time than Ce-doped Lu2Si2O7.

Keywords