Ce³⁺ doped glass for radiation detection material

The Ce³⁺ doped sodium-gadolinium-aluminum-phosphate glasses, with 20Na₂O− 10Gd₂O₃ − 10Al₂O₃ − (60-x)P₂O₅ − xCeF₃ (where x = 0.00, 0.10, 0.50, 1.50, 2.00 and 3.00 mol%) composition, have been measured and analyzed. The prepared glasses were studied various properties such as physical, optical, luminescence and scintillation. The densities of glasses were found to increase with the concentration of CeF₃ while molar volumes decreased. The value of absorption edge is shifted from 313 nm of host glass to longer wavelength with CeF₃ doping. The indirect and direct band gap decreased with increasing CeF₃ content which corresponded to the molar volume reduction representing the enhancement of non-bridging oxygen (NBO) number in glass network. Photoluminescence spectra showed the strong emission bands centered between 325 and 347 nm under Ce³⁺ directly excitation and Gd³⁺ excitation. The optimum concentrations of CeF₃ concentration in this glass is 2.00 mol% as it resulted the maximum emission intensity. The strongest emission band of x-ray induced optical luminescence is around 375 nm. The integrated scintillation efficiency of 2.0 mol% CeF₃ doped glass was 9.6% compared with bismuth germanium oxide (BGO) crystal. The most dominant decay times of 2.0 mol% doped glass was fast as 26.8 ns that performed the rapid response with coming excitation energy. In this work, our developed glasses performed the strong and fast luminescence signal which can be applied as the scintillation material in radiation detector.