Cerium-doped orthophosphates: new promising scintillators

Initial results are reported for a new class of scintillating materials, i.e. cerium-doped rare earth orthophosphates. The most promising is LuPO/sub 4/:Ce, which under gamma -excitation shows fast, single-exponential decay, of 25 ns at room temperature, and a light output of 17200 photons per 1 MeV. These features combined with a reasonable density (6.53 g/cm/sup 3/) make it a strong contender for many applications.<
>