Flexible Low-Dose X-Ray Detector Based on YAG Crystal-Derived Scintillation Silicate Fiber Doped With Ce³+, Tb³+, and Gd³+

A low-dose X-ray detector based on a novel Ce3+, Tb3+, and Gd3+ co-doped YAG crystal-derived scintillation fiber (CTGYCF) was demonstrated. The CTGYCF, featuring an yttrium aluminosilicate glass core and SiO2 cladding, was prepared using the melt-in-tube (MIT) method. The effective atomic number (<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Z_{\text {eff}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) of the CTGYCF core reaches 29.59, and the average insertion loss of the splicing between CTGYCF and commercial transmission quartz fiber (MMF) is 0.013 dB. The CTGYCF exhibits higher luminescence intensity under 245-nm excitation due to efficient energy transfer from Gd3+ and Ce3+ to Tb3+. Leveraging the CTGYCF’s high <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Z_{\text {eff}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, high optical yield, and low connection loss, the detector realized real-time monitoring of low-dose X-ray. For low-dose X-rays in the range of 1.13–<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$3.06 \; \mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula>Gy/s, the detector demonstrated an excellent linear response with an R2 value of ~0.997. Its X-ray response remained highly stable as the dose rate increased from 12.24 to <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$30.74 \; \mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula>Gy/s. Given its performance, the CTGYCF-based detector shows great potential for remote real-time monitoring of low-dose X-ray in inaccessible or hazardous environments.