Luminescence of La_0.2Y_1.8O_3 nanostructured scintillators

For the first time, transparent La_0.2Y_1.8O_3 nanostructured polycrystalline scintillators were fabricated by sintering nanoparticle powders at high temperatures and their scintillation properties are reported. La_0.2Y_1.8O_3 is a host material that has never been investigated as scintillators for radiation detection. Our observations found that La_0.2Y_1.8O_3 has an intense scintillation luminescence, a detection efficiency higher than that of YAG:Ce and a comparable energy resolution to NaI and CsI scintillators. In addition, La_0.2Y_1.8O_3 is stable and has luminescence decay lifetime in the picosecond range which is favorable for radiation detection. The luminescence of La_0.2Y_1.8O_3 has a large Stokes-shift and a large emission bandwidth, and the luminescence is highly temperature dependent. Different from most doped scintillators, the luminescence of La_0.2Y_1.8O_3 is most likely from the self-trapped excitons. The discovery of La_0.2Y_1.8O_3 scintillators opens a new door for the research of new materials for radiation detection.