Eu:Lu2O3 transparent ceramics prepared by spark-plasma-sintering

Lutetium oxide (Lu2O3) is an interesting host material for scintillating applications due to its properties, including high density (9.4 g/cm3), high effective atomic number (Zeff = 67), chemical and mechanical stability. Although it exhibits some intrinsic luminescent properties, its emission can be tuned to better suit the specific needs of individual applications by doping with lanthanide elements. However, the extremely high melting point of Lu2O3 (~2490 °C) makes the fabrication of a single crystal both difficult and costly. Lu2O3 is therefore commonly studied in the form of polycrystalline powder and thin films, or highly transparent dense ceramics. In this work, the fabrication of europium-doped Lu2O3 transparent ceramics is presented. First, a powder precursor was prepared using a reverse co-precipitation and characterized utilizing X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Powder was then compacted into dense transparent ceramics by spark-plasmasintering. Photoluminescence, radioluminescence and transmittance spectra, as well as scanning electron microscopy pictures, of sintered Eu:Lu2O3 samples are presented.