Abstract:

The impurity elements in lutetium oxide have a great influence on the separation and preparation process, production cost and performance of lutetium based silicate scintillating crystals. The research about the effect of impurities on the crystal properties is limited and needs to be further improved. In this paper, the impurity elements(Yb³⁺ and Ca²⁺ are the key impure elements in Lu₂O₃ separation process) co-doped Lu₂SiO₅∶Ce polycrystalline powders were prepared by the solid-state method. The effects of Yb³⁺ or Ca²⁺ content on the spectral properties of polycrystalline powders were studied. The results show that co-doping of Yb³⁺ or Ca²⁺ does not change the shape and position of the emission spectra. With the increase of the amount of doping impurities, the spectral intensity and fluorescence lifetime decrease gradually.

Key words: lutetium oxide, cerium doped lutetium oxyorthosilicate, impurity elements, polycrystalline powder, spectral properties