Study on luminescence properties of Nd3+–La3+ and Nd3+–Sc3+ codoped M′-LuTaO4 phosphors

Abstract Nd 3+ doped M′-LuTaO 4 phosphor, with high density (9.8 g/cm 3 ) and relatively fast decay time (261 ns), is a potential heavy scintillator. In this work, Nd:LuTaO 4 is codoped with La 3+ or Sc 3+ ion and its structure and luminescent properties as a function of their concentration are studied. The structural parameters are obtained by Rietveld refinement. The strongest emission peak is located at 419 nm which corresponds to the 4 D 3/2 → 4 I 13/2 transition of Nd 3+ . The decay times of 4 D 3/2 → 4 I 13/2 transition in Nd/La:LuTaO 4 and in Nd/Sc:LuTaO 4 are much shorter than that in Nd:LuTaO 4 , which decrease to 211 ns and 163 ns, respectively. It is also found that the decay time of 4 D 3/2 → 4 I 13/2 transition in Nd/La:LuTaO 4 increases with the increase of La content, and the decay time of 4 D 3/2 → 4 I 13/2 transition in Nd/Sc:LuTaO 4 decreases with the increase of Sc content. Besides, the mechanism is discussed respectively.