Scintillation properties and slow component suppression mechanism of BaF ₂ transparent ceramics

Abstract BaF 2 nano‐powders with the average particle size of 148 nm were synthesized by the coprecipitation method. Then, BaF 2 transparent ceramics were successfully fabricated by hot pressing (HP) combined with hot isostatic pressing (HIP). The BaF 2 transparent ceramics with the thickness of 2 mm exhibited an in‐line transmittance of 42.9% at 800 nm. In addition, the scintillation performance of the BaF 2 transparent ceramics was systematically studied. The XEL (X‐ray excited luminescence) spectra and scintillation decay curves demonstrate that the slow components in the BaF 2 ceramics are effectively suppressed compared with that in single crystal, and the fast component of undoped BaF 2 ceramics reaches 21.2% with a light yield of 5973 ph/MeV. To further investigate the mechanism of slow component suppression in BaF 2 ceramics, the temperature‐dependent XEL spectra and low‐temperature TSL (thermal stimulated luminescence) curves were also investigated. The results demonstrate that there may be faster quenching centers within the ceramics that quench STE (Self‐trapping exciton), and the intensity of the first TSL peak was reduced compared to that of crystals, thus leading to a decrease in the percentage of slow component of BaF 2 ceramics.