Reproducible X-ray excited luminescence performance with transparent Tb3+-doped NaGd2F7 scintillating glass ceramics.

Oxyfluoride glass ceramics with low toxicity, high stability and strong X-ray excited luminescence intensity are introduced as scintillating material. Herein, a series of novel NaGd 2 F 7 :xTb3+ (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) were synthesized through in situ growth self-crystallization. X-ray diffraction, fourier transform infrared spectrometer and transmission electron microscopy were measured to investigate the structure and morphology of NaGd 2 F 7 glass ceramics. These investigations demonstrate that NaGd 2 F 7 nanocrystals are uniformly distributed in glass matrix with 20–30 nm diameter. Photoluminescence and X-ray excitation spectra are greatly enhanced after further thermal treatment which verify better crystallization of NaGd 2 F 7 glass ceramics. The X-ray excited luminescence of the GC2–640 sample can reach 143.8% of the commercial BGO. More importantly, the damaged material can be completely repaired by annealing at 350 °C for 30 min. Our investigation indicates that Tb-doped transparent NaGd 2 F 7 glass ceramics are potential candidates of X-ray scintillating material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]