Optical properties and radiation response of Ce:SrHfO3 prepared by the Spark Plasma Sintering Method

SrHfO3, Ce0.02Sr0.98HfO3 (Ce:SHO) and Ce0.02Al0.02Sr0.96HfO3 (Ce/Al:SHO) ceramics were prepared by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) in order to search for a new material with a high-effective atomic number. Here, SrHfO3 has high melting point, and single crystal cannot be grown by micro pulling down method (which usually enables growth within less than 1 day) due to its high melting temperature. Since SPS can be used for preparation of the ceramics within roughly 10 h at temperatures lower than the melting point, we use the SPS method for material preparation. Ce:SHO had a low transparency of less than 0.1% below 540-nm, while Ce/Al:SHO had a wider transparent region including the emission wavelength region of Ce3+ (similar to 395 nm). Ce/Al:SHO ceramics had light output of similar to 4000 photons/MeV, and decay time of 21.6 +/- 0.9 ns. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.