Microstructured growth by liquid phase epitaxy of scintillating Gd3Ga5O12 (GGG) doped with Eu3+

Abstract

Microstructuration is useful for improving, tuning, or altering material properties and is used in various fields. It is applied to scintillating screens to enhance light extraction and to combine a high X-ray absorption efficiency of the scintillator with a good spatial resolution of the image. Even though the concept of microstructured scintillators is promising, only a few options have been explored and reported, leaving room for advancement. Here, we present the procedure for growing microstructured GGG:Eu with liquid phase epitaxy onto laser-treated GGG substrates with crystallographic orientations (100) and (111). It was found that the microstructure grows epitaxially on the substrate, maintaining the orientation and that its crystallinity is good and comparable to normal epitaxial films of GGG:Eu. The optical properties were also investigated thoroughly and are comparable to the un-structured epitaxial GGG:Eu films. We believe that these promising results can pave the way for other materials to be grown in a microstructured manner, which can be valuable also outside of scintillation for various fields.