Luminescence and vacuum ultraviolet excitation spectroscopy of cerium doped Gd3Ga3Al2O12 single crystalline scintillators under synchrotron radiation excitations

Authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Latvian Science Council grant LZP-2018/2-0358 . The research leading to this result has been supported by the project CALIPSO plus under the Grant Agreement 730872 from the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation HORIZON2020 . The work of A.P.K. was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation , state contracts No. 11.6181.2017/ITR .Cerium doped Gd3Ga3Al2O12 (GGAG) single crystals as well as GGAG:Ce single crystals co-doped by divalent (Mg2+, Ca2+), trivalent (Sc3+) or tetravalent (Zr4+, Ti4+) ions have been studied by means of the excitation luminescence spectroscopy in vacuum ultraviolet spectral range. Synchrotron radiation from the undulator beam was utilized for the luminescence excitation in the energy range from 4.5 to 800 eV. The influence of the co-dopant ions on the excitonic transitions as well as on the intrinsic defects in GGAG was revealed examining the luminescence emission and excitation spectra of both Gd3+ and Ce3+ ions in all single crystals studied. Special attention was paid to the analysis of Ce3+ excitation spectra in VUV spectral range (4.5–45 eV) where multiplication of electronic excitation (MEE) processes occur. It was obtained that GGAG:Ce single crystals having different co-dopant ions reveal distinguished efficiency of MEE. The role of intrinsic defects in MEE processes in the co-doped GGAG:Ce single crystals was elucidated.Latvian Science Council LZP-2018/2-0358,730872; Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation 11.6181.2017/ITR; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART²https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211379719334527?via%3Dihu

Luminescence properties and time-resolved spectroscopy of rare-earth doped SrMoO4 single crystals

The work of V. Pankratova was supported by the financial support of Scientific Research Project for Students and Young Researchers (SJZ/2020/05) realized at Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia. The Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2.Luminescence properties of nominally pure and doped with Eu3+ and Pr3+ ions SrMoO4 single crystals grown by the Czochralski method have been studied. Thermal quenching of intrinsic emission of pure and doped SrMoO4 single crystals has been observed, as well as a correlation of thermal quenching activation energies with rare-earth ion concentration has been observed. Tunable laser was used to study time-resolved luminescence in a range from 10 K to room temperature. The effect of dopant nature and concentration on intrinsic emission and decay kinetics has been elucidated. --//-- Viktorija Pankratova, Elizaveta E. Dunaeva, Irina S. Voronina, Anna P. Kozlova, Roman Shendrik, Vladimir Pankratov, Luminescence properties and time-resolved spectroscopy of rare-earth doped SrMoO4 single crystals, Optical Materials: X, Volume 15, 2022, 100169, ISSN 2590-1478, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omx.2022.100169. Article published under the CC BY-NC-ND licence.Scientific Research Project for Students and Young Researchers (SJZ/2020/05); the Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2

Optical characteristics of single crystal Gd3Al2Ga3O12 : Ce

New emerging high-energy radiation detection techniques are based on the use of rare-earth ion doped materials. There is a great demand for new inorganic scintillators for medical applications, including X-ray and g radiation detection. In these applications, the new scintillating materials must comply with the main requirements such as high optical quality, high light yield, short response time etc. Materials satisfying these requirements include Gd3Al2Ga3O12 : Ce (GAGG : Ce) scintillating single crystals. By now the optical characteristics of GAGG : Ce have been studied insufficiently. We have therefore measured the spectral reflectance and transmittance characteristics of these crystals using optical spectroscopy in the 200–750 nm range. We have also measured the absorbance and refractive indices and the extinction coefficients, and assessed the optical band gap for GAGG : Ce crystals. For measuring the refractive indices, we have used two spectrophotometric methods, i.e. by the measured Brewster angle and by the reflectance for low incidence angles, i.e., close to the normal. Based on the results we have drawn up the dispersion functions of the refractive indices

Impedance spectroscopy study of lanthanum-gallium tantalate single crystals grown under different conditions

The effect of the growth atmosphere and the type of deposited current conductive coatings on the impedance/admittance of La3Ta0.5Ga5.5O14 lanthanum-gallium tantalate has been revealed. The lanthanum-gallium tantalate single crystals have been grown in argon and argon with admixture of oxygen gas atmospheres. Current conductive coatings of iridium, gold with a titanium sublayer, and silver with a chromium sublayer have been deposited onto the single crystals. The tests have been carried out taking into account the polarity of the specimens. The temperature and frequency dependences of the admittance of lanthanum-gallium tantalate have been measured in an alternating electric field at frequencies in the 5 Hz to 500 kHz range and temperatures from 20 to 450 °C. The specimens with gold current conductive coating have the lowest admittance. Analysis of the temperature and frequency functions of the dielectric permeability has shown the absence of any frequency dependence in the entire test range. Equivalent electric circuits have been constructed. Graphic-analytic and numeric analysis of the equivalent electric circuits of the electrode/langatate/electrode cells has shown that the admittance of the metal/langatate/metal cells is controlled by the electrochemical processes at the electrode/electrolyte/electrode interface. The absolute values of the impedance components depend on the langatate growth conditions and the type of the electrodes. Our measurements suggest that the material of the current conductive coating has a greater effect on the absolute values of the measured parameters than the growth atmosphere

Impedance spectroscopy study of lanthanum-gallium tantalate single crystals grown under different conditions

The effect of the growth atmosphere and the type of deposited current conductive coatings on the impedance/admittance of La3Ta0.5Ga5.5O14 lanthanum-gallium tantalate has been revealed. The lanthanum-gallium tantalate single crystals have been grown in argon and argon with admixture of oxygen gas atmospheres. Current conductive coatings of iridium, gold with a titanium sublayer, and silver with a chromium sublayer have been deposited onto the single crystals. The tests have been carried out taking into account the polarity of the specimens. The temperature and frequency dependences of the admittance of lanthanum-gallium tantalate have been measured in an alternating electric field at frequencies in the 5 Hz to 500 kHz range and temperatures from 20 to 450 °C. The specimens with gold current conductive coating have the lowest admittance. Analysis of the temperature and frequency functions of the dielectric permeability has shown the absence of any frequency dependence in the entire test range. Equivalent electric circuits have been constructed. Graphic-analytic and numeric analysis of the equivalent electric circuits of the electrode/langatate/electrode cells has shown that the admittance of the metal/langatate/metal cells is controlled by the electrochemical processes at the electrode/electrolyte/electrode interface. The absolute values of the impedance components depend on the langatate growth conditions and the type of the electrodes. Our measurements suggest that the material of the current conductive coating has a greater effect on the absolute values of the measured parameters than the growth atmosphere

Investigation of CaMoO4 single crystals with low residual absorption

Calcium molybdate enriched with the 100Mo isotope (40Ca100MoO4) is a promising material for use in cryogenic scintillation detectors. The main requirements of crystalline elements of the detector are absence of color and the attenuation coefficient (μ) not higher than 0.01 cm−1 at 520 nm wavelength. 40Ca100MoO4 and 40Ca100MoO4:Nb5+ single crystals have been investigated. The influence of isothermal annealing on the attenuation spectra in the 350 to 700 nm wavelength range has been studied. A broad absorption band with a maximum at λ=460 nm is observed in the attenuation spectra of the sample. The dichroism phenomenon which is associated with anisotropy of the color centers in the crystals is observed along directions perpendicular to the optical axis. Annealing of the enriched samples at 1250 °C in an O2 atmosphere leads to a substantial reduction of the intensity of the band near 460 nm. The attenuation coefficient of the 40Ca100MoO4:Nb5+ crystals meets the requirement, which is μ≪0.01 cm−1 at λ=520 nm. It is determined that absorption band near 460 nm and dichroism are absent

Spectrophotometric determination of optical parameters of lithium niobate films

Lithium niobate films on silicon substrates have been synthesized by high-frequency magnetron sputtering of a target. The spectral dependences of the reflectance in the 300–700 nm range at small incidence angles and the angular dependence of p- and s-polarized light for a discrete set of wavelengths from 300 to 700 nm with wavelength increments of 50 nm, for angles of 1 arc deg, have been obtained using spectrophotometry. The refractive indicies, the film thickness and the extinction coefficients have been determined using a numerical method for solving inverse problems. The initial approximations for the solution of inverse problems have been defined using methods based on the estimation of the interference extrema positions in the reflection spectra. The resultant refractive indicies of the film differ from those typical of LiNbO3 single crystals. These differences are attributed to the structural disorder induced by the predominant crystallite orientation and the absorption in the film

Time-resolved luminescence and excitation spectroscopy of Co-doped Gd3Ga3Al2O12 scintillating crystals

The work of Viktorija Pankratova was supported by the Latvian Science Council grant LZP-2018/2-0358. Vladimir Pankratov gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation in the framework of Increase Competitiveness Program of NUST «MISiS» (Grant No. К3-2018-021). The research leading to this result has also been supported by the project CALIPSO plus under the Grant Agreement 730872 from the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation HORIZON 2020. Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART 2. The optical absorption spectrum at low temperature reported in this paper were measured on the equipment of the Central of Collective Use “Isotope-geochemical studies” of the Institute of Geochemistry, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. Authors are grateful to A.I. Popov for the fruitful discussions.Cerium doped Gd3Ga3Al2O12 (GGAG) single crystals as well as GGAG:Ce single crystals co-doped by divalent (Mg2+, Ca2+) and tetravalent (Zr4+, Ti4+) ions have been studied by means of time-resolved luminescence as well as the excitation luminescence spectroscopy in vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and soft X-ray (XUV) spectral range. Tunable laser excitation was applied for time-resolved experiments in order to obtain luminescence decay curves under excitations in Ce3+, Gd3+ and excitonic absorption bands. The influence of the co-dopant ions on the Ce3+ luminescence decay kinetics is elucidated. The fastest luminescence decay was observed for the Mg2+ co-doped crystals under any excitation below bandgap energy indicating the perturbation of the 5d states of Ce3+ by Mg2+ ions. Synchrotron radiation was utilized for the luminescence excitation in the energy range from 4.5 to 800 eV. Special attention was paid to the analysis of Ce3+ excitation spectra in VUV and XUV spectral range where multiplication of electronic excitation (MEE) processes occur. Our results demonstrated that GGAG:Ce single crystals co-doped by Mg2+ ions as well as the GGAG:Ce crystal annealed in vacuum reveal the most efficient excitation of Ce3+ emission in VUV-XUV excitation range. The role of intrinsic defects in MEE processes in the co-doped as well as in the annealed GGAG:Ce single crystals is discussed.Horizon 2020 Framework Programme CALIPSO Plus under the Grant Agreement 730872; Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement 739508; Science Council of Latvia LZP-2018/2-0358; Horizon 2020 Framework Programme project CAMART², Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation К3-2018-021

Исследование влияния природы твердых кислотных катализаторов на их активность в гидролизе сахарозы и целлюлозы

Activity of solid acid catalysts (based on SBA-15 and carbon Sibunit) in hydrolysis of sucrose at 80 °C and of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) at 150 °C was compared. The maximal activity in sucrose hydrolysis (rate constant 9,2·10-4 s-1 ) was observed for SBA-15 containing anchored SO3H-groups. All studied catalysts increase the conversion of MCC in the following order (for hydrolysis time 12 h): without catalyst (4,2 % wt.) < Sibunit (16-19 % wt.) < acid Nafion® (21,5 % wt.) < SBA-15 (80,1 % wt.). Products of MCC hydrolysis contain along with glucose the oligosaccharides and impurities of mannose and xyloseСопоставлена активность твердых кислотных катализаторов на основе SBA-15 и Сибунита в гидролизе сахарозы при 80 °С и микрокристаллической целлюлозы (МКЦ) при 150 °С. Максимальная активность в реакции гидролиза сахарозы наблюдалась у SBA-15 (константа скорости 9,2·10-4с-1), содержащего закрепленные SO3H-группы. Для всех изученных катализаторов конверсия МКЦ за время гидролиза 12 ч увеличивается в следующем порядке: без катализатора (4,2 % мас.) < Сибунит (16-19 % мас.) < Nafion® (21,5 % мас.) < SBA-15 (80,1 % мас.). Установлено, что продукты гидролиза MКЦ содержат наряду с глюкозой олигосахариды и примеси маннозы и ксилоз

Luminescence of ODC(II) in quartz and cristobalite glasses

The results of the optical spectroscopy of twofold coordinated silicon centers – ODC(II) in quartz and cristobalite glasses are presented. The luminescence and excitation spectra attributed to different local symmetry of ODC(II) were investigated under synchrotron excitation in the VUV region. The observed differences in the luminescence and excitation spectra of ODC(II) are caused by the environment and, therefore, short-range order in the samples