Ce3+ doped BaO–Gd2O3–P2O5 glass: New glass scintillator for X-rays detector and imaging applications

The preparation and characterization of glasses with BaO–Gd₂O₃–P₂O₅–CeF₃ system were proceeded in this work for scintillator material. Glass density tends to decrease while the molar volume increases with CeF₃ addition. Glasses strongly absorb photons in UV region with redshift of absorption edge but it has high transmittance for visible light. The optimum CeF₃ concentration is 0.50 mol% which Ce³⁺ in glass exhibit the strong photoluminescence around 332 - 338 nm under direct Ce³⁺ excitation and Gd³⁺ - Ce³⁺ energy transfer. The photoluminescence decay time of Ce³⁺ tends to increase by adding CeF₃ that value of 0.50 mol% doped glass is short around 27 ns. X-rays induced luminescence spectra exhibit the similar pattern to that of photoluminescence spectra with Gd³⁺ → Ce³⁺ energy transfer. The integral scintillation efficiency of 0.50 mol% doped glass is around 42 % compared to BGO crystal. This glass was operated in the practical X-ray imaging which created the quality image by a spatial resolution of 37.6 LP/mm. The developed glass owns high luminescence potential for using as a scintillator in X-ray detector and imaging applications.