Photoluminescence and scintillation properties of rare earth doped Lu2O3 single crystal grown by floating zone method

A series of Lu 2 O 3 single crystals doped with rare earth (RE) ions (RE = Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb, dopant concentrations are 1 %) was synthesized by the floating zone method. Their photoluminescence (PL) and scintillation properties were evaluated. In PL, emissions due to 4f-4f transitions of trivalent rare earth ions were observed, and those doped with Nd 3+ , Eu 3+ , Tb 3+ and Er 3+ showed the highest emission intensities among the samples. As a scintillation property, those doped with Eu, Gd, and Dy showed a clear photoabsorption peak under 137 Cs 662 keV γ-ray irradiation. Among them, the Eu 3+ -doped Lu 2 O 3 showed the highest scintillation light yield of 67000 photons/MeV. The current work conducted the first systematic study of rare earth doped Lu 2 O 3 single crystals grown by the floating zone method. • Rare earth doped Lu 2 O 3 single crystals were grown by the floating zone method. • Photoluminescence and scintillation properties were investigated. • In pulse height spectrum, Eu-doped Lu 2 O 3 exhibited the light yield of 67000 ph/MeV.