Cerium compounds as scintillators

Stoichiometric Ce-materials with negligible Ce-Ce interactions should have superior scintillator properties. The authors present two materials: CeF/sub 3/ and Ce/sub x/La/sub 1-x/P/sub 5/O/sub 14/. While cerium trifluoride is a known scintillator, pentaphosphate is of a limited usefulness, except as a remarkable model material. It is shown that quenching in fluoride is responsible for loss of 50% of the light output and is the cause of the so-called ultrafast component (2 ns). The light output of fluoride (about 50% of BGO) could be significantly improved. It is concluded that deeper understanding of Ce systems is needed to fully exploit their potential.<>