Luminescence characteristics of YAP:Ce scintillator powders and composites

Cerium doped yttrium aluminate perovskite YAlO 3 (YAP) powders are pursued as interesting alternatives to bulk crystals for application in scintillating devices. The emissions of these materials in the near-UV and visible spectral regions originate from electric dipole transitions between 4f and 5d energy levels of Ce 3+ and largely depend on the environment occupied by the ion. In search for improved synthesis conditions that can lead to phase pure powders with optimized structural and spectroscopic characteristics, in this work we have employed the polymeric precursor (Pechini) method to prepare crystalline and amorphous YAP:Ce powders doped with 1–10 mol% Ce 3+. Interesting composite materials were also obtained by dispersing some of the YAP:Ce powders in silica xerogels. A comparative structural and spectroscopic study of all the samples was done by XRD, FT–IR, emission, excitation and excited state lifetime measurements. In agreement with previous reports, excitation at 296 nm results in intense emission in the range 315–425 nm with an average decay time of 30 ns.