Aliovalent Doping of CeBr3

M. J. Harrison; P. Ugorowski; C. Linnick; S. Brinton; D. S. McGregor; F. P. Doty; S. Kirpatrcik; D. F. Bahr

doi:10.1117/12.882643

Translator Disclaimer

29 September 2010 Aliovalent Doping of CeBr₃

M. J. Harrison, P. Ugorowski, C. Linnick, S. Brinton, D. S. McGregor, F. P. Doty, S. Kirpatrcik, D. F. Bahr

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7806, Penetrating Radiation Systems and Applications XI; 78060M (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.882643
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Despite the outstanding scintillation performance characteristics of CeBr₃ and LaBr₃:Ce, commercial availability and application is limited due to the difficulties with crystal growth of large, crack-free single crystals of these fragile materials. Aliovalent doping was employed to strengthen CeBr3 in an effort to ease crystal growth constraints and improve ingot yields. Six divalent (Ca²⁺, Sr²⁺, Ba²⁺, Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺ and Pb²⁺) and two tetravalent cations (Zr⁴⁺ and Hf⁴⁺) were investigated as dopants to strengthen CeBr3 without negatively impacting scintillation performance. Ingots containing nominal concentrations of 500ppm and 1000ppm of each dopant were grown. Fluorimetry, preliminary scintillation, and preliminary fracture toughness measurements are presented for these aliovalently-doped scintillators. While Ca²⁺, Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺, and Hf⁴⁺ all exhibited little or no change in the peak fluorescence emission for 300nm excitation, Sr²⁺, Ba²⁺, Pb²⁺, and Zr⁴⁺ exhibited varying degrees of red-shifting. As expected, Pb²⁺ had a drastic detrimental effect on scintillation. Initial microindentation data indeed indicates a noticeable increase in the fracture toughness of the doped crystals as compared to undoped CeBr₃.

Citation Download Citation

M. J. Harrison, P. Ugorowski, C. Linnick, S. Brinton, D. S. McGregor, F. P. Doty, S. Kirpatrcik, and D. F. Bahr "Aliovalent Doping of CeBr₃", Proc. SPIE 7806, Penetrating Radiation Systems and Applications XI, 78060M (29 September 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.882643

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE