Suppression of BaF2 Slow Component of X-RAY Luminescence in Non-Stoichiometric Bao.9R0.1F2.1 Crystals (R=Rare Earth Element)

Abstract

ABSTRACTA series of BaF2 crystals doped with 10% mole fraction of each rare earth element has been grown, and the effect of these dopants on the slow luminescence (due to anionic self trapped excitons) and fast luminescence (due to core-valence transitions) has been studied. While significant suppression was observed for both components, the best dopants for suppressing the slow component of barium fluoride (up to 25-50%) while maintaining the luminosity of the fast component are La, Y, and Lu. The luminescence of Ba0.9Eu0.1F2.1 is almost entirely fast (>90%), but with low light output. For two rare earth dopants (La and Gd), the effect of slow and fast component suppression was studied as a function of concentration (Ba1-xRxF2+x with x≦0.5 for R=La and x≦0.3 for R=Gd). The suppression is non-linear with dopant concentration, with the relative degree of slow component suppression correlated with the melting point of these samples.