Wide Concentration Range of Tb<sup>3+</sup> Doping Influence on Scintillation Properties of (Ce, Tb, Gd)<sub>3</sub>Ga<sub>2</sub>Al<sub>3</sub>O<sub>12</sub> Crystals Grown by the Optical Floating Zone Method
Tong Wu,
Ling Wang,
Yun Shi,
Xintang Huang,
Qian Zhang,
Yifei Xiong,
Hui Wang,
Jinghong Fang,
Jinqi Ni,
Huan He,
Chaoyue Wang,
Zhenzhen Zhou,
Qian Liu,
Qin Li,
Jianding Yu,
Oleg Shichalin,
Evgeniy Papynov
Affiliations
Tong Wu
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
Ling Wang
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
Yun Shi
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
Xintang Huang
College of Physical Science and Technology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
Qian Zhang
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
Yifei Xiong
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
Hui Wang
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
Jinghong Fang
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
Jinqi Ni
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
Huan He
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
Chaoyue Wang
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
Zhenzhen Zhou
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
Qian Liu
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
Qin Li
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
Jianding Yu
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
Oleg Shichalin
Laboratory of Nuclear Technology, Institute of High Technologies and Advanced Materials, Far Eastern Federal University, 690091 Vladivostok, Russia
Evgeniy Papynov
Laboratory of Nuclear Technology, Institute of High Technologies and Advanced Materials, Far Eastern Federal University, 690091 Vladivostok, Russia
To obtain a deeper understand of the energy transfer mechanism between Ce3+ and Tb3+ ions in the aluminum garnet hosts, (Ce, Tb, Gd)3Ga2Al3O12 (GGAG:Ce, Tb) single crystals grown by the optical floating zone (OFZ) method were investigated systematically in a wide range of Tb3+ doping concentration (1–66 at.%). Among those, crystal with 7 at.% Tb reached a single garnet phase while the crystals with other Tb3+ concentrations are mixed phases of garnet and perovskite. Obvious Ce and Ga loss can be observed by an energy dispersive X-ray spectroscope (EDS) technology. The absorption bands belonging to both Ce3+ and Tb3+ ions can be observed in all crystals. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra show the presence of an efficient energy transfer from the Tb3+ to Ce3+ and the gradually quenching effect with increasing of Tb3+ concentration. GGAG: 1% Ce3+, 7% Tb3+ crystal was found to possess the highest PL intensity under excitation of 450 nm. The maximum light yield (LY) reaches 18,941 pho/MeV. The improved luminescent and scintillation characteristics indicate that the cation engineering of Tb3+ can optimize the photoconversion performance of GGAG:Ce.
