Room-temperature scintillation properties of cerium-doped REOX (RE=Y, La, Gd, and Lu; X=F, Cl, Br, and I)

The scintillation properties of cerium-doped oxyhalides following the general formula REOX (RE=Y, La, Gd, and Lu; X=F, Cl, Br, and I) are reported. These materials were synthesized under dry conditions as microcrystalline powders from conventional solid state reactions. The room temperature X-ray excited emission and scintillation decay curves were measured and analyzed for each material. Additionally, the hygroscopic nature of the oxychlorides and oxybromides was compared to that of their corresponding rare earth halides. The yttrium, lanthanum, and gadolinium oxychlorides, and all of the oxybromides and oxyiodides are found to be activated by Ce3+. GdOBr doped with 0.5% Ce3+ has the highest light output with a relative luminosity of about one-half that of LaBr3: Ce3+. It displays a single exponential decay of 30 ns.