Luminescence and scintillation properties of XPO4:Nd3+ (X = Y, Lu, Sc, La) crystals

Abstract Due to their very fast short-wavelength emission, neodymium-doped materials are a subject of current interest as potential scintillators. Although the initial reports regarding neodymium-doped orthophosphates (in crystalline form) and their scintillation properties appeared almost twenty years ago, they remain an interesting class of materials since there is no in-depth understanding of their fundamental scintillation mechanism. In the present research, we focus on the crystalline systems: XPO4:Nd3+, where X = Y, Lu, La, Sc. The pulse height, optical absorption, radioluminescence and photoluminescence spectra were investigated and are reported here for various temperatures from 10 to 350 K. Additionally, results of both low and high temperature thermoluminescence measurements are reported in this communication.