Growth and luminescent properties of single crystalline films of Ce3+ doped Pr1−xLuxAlO3 and Gd1−xLuxAlO3 perovskites

Abstract

The paper is dedicated to development of UV emitting scintillating screens for microimaging applications based on the single crystalline films (SCFs) of Ce doped Gd1−xLuxAlO3 and Pr1−xLuxAlO3 (x=0–1) multicomponent perovskites grown onto YAlO3 (YAP) substrates using the liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) method with the objective to improve the X-ray stopping power. Recently Riva et al. [1] have reported that the full set of GdxLu1−xAlO3 SCFs with x values in x=0−1.0 range can be crystallized on YAP substrates using this technique. We report here that PrxLu1−xAlO3 SCFs with x values in x=0–0.5 range can be grown also by the LPE method from PbO-B2O3 flux onto the same YAP substrates. The structural quality of the films was studied using X-ray diffraction. The optical properties of Ce3+ doped of Gd1−xLuxAlO3 and Pr1−xLuxAlO3 (x=0−1) multicomponent perovskite films, studied by traditional spectroscopic methods, such as absorption, cathodoluminescence, photoluminescence and light yield measurements under α–particles excitation, are also reported in this work. We have shown that Pb2+ flux related impurity has significantly larger influence on the light yield of Pr0.5Lu0.5AlO3:Ce, GdAlO3:Ce and Gd0.5Lu0.5AlO3:Ce SCFs in comparison with the YAP:Ce and LuAlO3:Ce counterparts grown onto YAP substrates.