Luminescent properties of Al2O3:Ce single crystalline films under synchrotron radiation excitation

Abstract The paper is dedicated to study the luminescent and scintillation properties of the Al 2 O 3 :Ce single crystalline films (SCF) grown by LPE method onto saphire substrates from PbO based flux. The structural quality of SCF samples was investigated by XRD method. For characterization of luminescent properties of Al 2 O 3 :Ce SCFs the cathodoluminescence spectra, scintillation light yield (LY) and decay kinetics under excitation by α-particles of Pu 239 source were used. We have found that the scintillation LY of Al 2 O 3 :Ce SCF samples is relatively large and can reach up to 50% of the value realized in the reference YAG:Ce SCF. Using the synchrotron radiation excitation in the 3.7–25 eV range at 10 K we have also determined the basic parameters of the Ce 3+ luminescence in Al 2 O 3 host.