Luminescent and Scintillating Properties of Lanthanum Fluoride Nanocrystals in Response to Gamma/Neutron Irradiation: Codoping with Ce Activator, Yb Wavelength Shifter, and Gd Neutron Captor

TL;DR

This paper introduces lanthanum fluoride nanocrystals doped with specific elements for gamma-ray and neutron detection, demonstrating their luminescent and scintillating properties through synthesis, characterization, and experimental validation.

Contribution

It presents a novel synthesis and characterization of codoped lanthanum fluoride nanocrystals for combined gamma and neutron detection, highlighting their potential for spectroscopic applications.

Findings

Confirmed gamma detection and spectroscopy capabilities.

Demonstrated neutron detection using a 252Cf source.

Characterized nanocrystals with TEM, XRD, EDS, and optical methods.

Abstract

A novel concept for detection and spectroscopy of gamma rays, and detection of thermal neutrons based on codoped lanthanum fluoride nanocrystals containing gadolinium is presented.The trends of colloidal synthesis of the mentioned material, LaF3 co-doped with Ce as the activator, Yb as the wavelength-shifter and Gd as the neutron captor, is reported. Nanocrystals of the mentioned material were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), optical absorption, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Gamma detection and its potential spectroscopy feature have been confirmed. The neutron detection capability has been confirmed by experiments performed using a 252Cf neutron source.