Table-top instrumentation for time-resolved luminescence spectroscopy of solids excited by nanosecond pulse of soft X-ray source and/or UV laser
Petr Brůža; Vlastimil Fidler; Martin Nikl
Журнал:
Journal of Instrumentation
Дата:
2011-09-01
Аннотация:
The practical applicability of the rare-earth doped scintillators in high-speed detectors is limited by the slow decay components in the temporal response of a scintillator. The study of origin and properties of material defects that induce the slow decay components is of major importance for the development of new scintillation materials. We present a table-top, time-domain UV-VIS luminescence spectrometer, featuring extended time and input sensitivity ranges and two excitation sources. The combination of both soft X-ray/XUV and UV excitation source allows the comparative measurements of luminescence spectra and decay kinetics of scintillators to be performed under the same experimental conditions. The luminescence of emission centers of a doped scintillator can be induced by conventional N<sub>2</sub> laser pulse, while the complete scintillation process can be initiated by a soft X-ray/XUV pulse excitation from the laser-produced plasma in gas puff target of 4 ns duration. In order to demonstrate the spectrometer, the UV-VIS luminescence spectra and decay kinetics of cerium doped Lu<sub>3</sub>Al<sub>5</sub>O<sub>12</sub> single crystal (LuAG:Ce) scintillator excited by XUV and UV radiation were acquired. Luminescence of the doped Ce<sup>3+</sup> ions was studied under 2.88 nm (430 eV) XUV excitation from the laser-produced nitrogen plasma, and compared with the luminescence under 337 nm (3.68 eV) UV excitation from nitrogen laser. In the former case the excitation energy is deposited in the LuAG host, while in the latter the 4f–5d<sub>2</sub> transition of Ce<sup>3+</sup> is directly excited. Furthermore, YAG:Ce and LuAG:Ce single crystals luminescence decay profiles are compared and discussed.
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