Scintillation, dosimeter and optical properties of MgF2 transparent ceramics doped with Gd3+

In this study, we have developed MgF2:Gd transparent ceramics by spark plasma sintering (SPS) and evaluated the scintillation, dosimeter and optical properties. All the sample were successfully synthesized in a transparent form with relative densities over 99% to that of the single crystal. The samples were confirmed to show scintillation, thermally-stimulated luminescence (TSL) and optically-stimulated luminescence (OSL). The origin of these emissions was due to the 4f-4f transitions of Gd3+ appearing as a single peak at 310 nm. In particular, the TSL was very sensitive to X-rays, and especially the 1% Gd-doped sample showed a sensitivity as low as 0.1 mGy. The TSL response increases monotonically with the irradiation dose, and the dynamic range was confirmed to be over 0.1-1000 mGy, which was equivalent sensitivity to that of commercial personal dosimeters.