Paramagnetic Eu2+ center as a probe for the sensitivity of CsBr x-ray needle image plates

Abstract

Needlelike CsBr:Eu x-ray storage phosphor plates exhibit an excellent sensitivity as expressed by their photostimulated luminescence (PSL) intensity and have ever growing applications in medical radiography. An earlier electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) study revealed spectra due to a Eu2+ center with axial ⟨100⟩ symmetry. In this work, its EPR intensity is shown to exhibit a linear correlation with the PSL intensity and the sensitivity of the plates. It can thus be expected that the structural information retrieved from EPR and related techniques may substantially contribute to the understanding of the physics behind the writing and reading processes in the phosphor.