Effect of the Synthesis Conditions on the Morphology, Luminescence and Scintillation Properties of a New Light Scintillation Material Li2CaSiO4:Eu2+ for Neutron and Charged Particle Detection

Abstract

In the present article, the influence of the activator concentration and impurity content of raw materials on the luminescence and scintillation properties of Li2CaSiO4 was studied. Polycrystalline powder material was obtained by the sol–gel method. It was shown that europium had limited solubility in the host lattice with a limiting concentration proximate to 0.014 formula units. The maximum intensity of photoluminescence was observed with a divalent europium concentration of 0.002 formula units; the light yield under alpha-particle excitation was measured to be 21,600 photons/MeV for ~200 μm of coating, and under neutron excitation, it was calculated to be 103,800 photons/n, the scintillation kinetics was characterized by an effective decay time of 157 ns. These properties and the transparency in the visible spectrum make it possible to produce scintillation screens with a coating of Li2CaSiO4 for detecting neutrons, alpha particles and low-energy beta radiation. The low Zeff (~15) of this compound makes it less sensitive to gamma rays. The 480 nm blue emission peak makes this material compatible with most commercial PMT photocathodes, CCD cameras and silicon photomultipliers, which have a maximum quantum efficiency in the blue–green spectral region.