Scintillation and dosimetric properties of Dy-doped CaF₂ translucent ceramic and single crystal

Abstract

We synthesized a Dy-doped CaF₂ translucent ceramic by the spark plasma sintering method, and investigated its scintillation and dosimetric properties compared with those of the single crystal. Both the samples showed sharp peaks across 480–670 nm due to the 4f–4f transitions of Dy³⁺, and a broad peak approximately at 300 nm due to the self-trapped excitons. The decay time constants of both the samples in scintillation were approximately 5 ms, which was close to those for the 4f–4f transitions of Dy³⁺. Regarding thermally-stimulated luminescence, the translucent ceramic exhibited higher sensitivity than the single crystal, and the dynamic range was at least 0.01–100 mGy. In addition, both the samples showed optically stimulated luminescence due to the 4f–4f transitions of Dy³⁺ during 590 nm stimulation light, but the lowest detection limit of both the samples was approximately 10 mGy.