Optical and scintillation properties of Nd differently doped YLiF4 from VUV to NIR wavelengths

Abstract

Nd 0.1, 0.5, 1, and 3mol% doped YLiF4 crystalline scintillators were prepared by Tokuyama Corp. and their optical and scintillation properties from vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) to near infrared (NIR) wavelengths were investigated. 4f–5d absorption bands appeared in VUV and several absorption bands due to 4f–4f transition were observed in visible-NIR wavelengths. Nd3+ 5d–4f emission was observed around 180nm under 160nm excitation and intense line due to 4F3/2→4I11/2 at 1064nm appeared under 500nm excitation. In X-ray induced radioluminescence, both VUV and NIR emissions were observed. Scintillation decay times of VUV emission was 40–80ns while that of 4f–4f ones at visible wavelength were around 12–15μs. When 252Cf neutron was irradiated, VUV scintillation light yield resulted around 90 ph/n.