Anti-thermal-quenching radio-luminescence and high-temperature X-ray imaging of Tb3+-doped glass scintillators
摘要
Driven by the growing demand for high-performance scintillators in high-temperature applications, such as industrial flaw detection and oil exploration, this work focuses on developing Tb3+-doped glass scintillators with anti-thermal-quenching properties. Capitalizing on the intrinsic advantages of glass matrices and the excellent thermal stability of the luminescence of Tb3+ ions, we designed a novel glass scintillator for high-temperature X-ray imaging. This was achieved by employing three synergistic strategies: (i) selecting an oxyfluoride glass host to provide a low-phonon-energy environment for the activators, (ii) increasing the structural densification of the glass network, and (iii) leveraging thermally enhanced energy transfer from Ce3+ to Tb3+. The resulting glass scintillators exhibit an exceptional optical transmittance (exceeding 88% at 542 nm), a record-breaking radioluminescence (RL) intensity (350% of a standard Bi4Ge3O12 (BGO) crystal), and an outstanding imaging resolution of 24 lp mm−1. Most notably, the material displays significant anti-thermal-quenching behavior, with its RL intensity at 633 K reaching 143% of its room-temperature (303 K) value. This performance far surpasses that of most reported and commercial scintillators, including BGO and CsI:Tl, whose RL intensities drop to approximately 1% under the same conditions. These results compellingly demonstrate the significant potential of the designed Tb3+-doped glass scintillators for high-temperature X-ray imaging and establish a promising strategic framework for the development of next-generation, thermally robust scintillating materials.