Luminescence characterizations of YAG:Ce crystal via sol-gel method for radiotherapy

• Published in: Optical materials 2020-11, Vol.109, p.110297, Article 110297
• Main Authors: Guo, Qiang, Li, Mao, Gu, Danyu, Yan, Yuheng, Yue, Kun, Xie, Feiyang, Zhang, Changfeng, Mou, Chengbo, Peng, Gang-Ding, Wang, Tingyun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Dosimeter; Radiotherapy; Sol-gel; YAG:Ce
• ISSN: 0925-3467; 1873-1252
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optmat.2020.110297

Cerium doped yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG:Ce) crystal powders were synthesized using the sol-gel method. The effects of doping concentration and sintering atmosphere were investigated via X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL), and cathodoluminescence (CL). The XRD measurement indicates that doping ions do not change the crystal lattice structure of YAG crystal. PL results show that YAG:Ce samples sintered in inert atmosphere have better luminescence property around 550 nm and the optimum Ce doping concentration is 0.5 mol% as an optimal YAG:Ce powder to fabricate a dosimeter probe. Radioluminescence (RL) properties of crystal dosimeter also has been studied using clinical linear accelerator at the ultra-low dose from 3.6 to 27 cGy with dose rate from 80 to 600 cGy/min. RL measurements for dose rate and total dose show a good linear response of intensity, indicating potential applications in remote radiotherapy and radiation monitoring. •YAG:Ce crystal powder as scintillator material was synthesized by sol-gel method.•YAG:Ce with various Ce concentrations and different sintering atmosphere has been systematically investigated.•A dosimeter was made with the optimal YAG:Ce crystal powder and a real-time, remote sensing system was set up.