Abstract
Transparent glass-ceramic containing rare-earth doped halide nanocrystals exhibits enhanced luminescence performance. In this study, a glass-ceramic with Tb doped gadolinium fluoride nanocrystals embedded in an aluminosilicate glass matrix is investigated for X-ray imaging applications. The nanocrystalline glass-ceramic scintillator was prepared by a melt-quench method followed by an anneal. The GdF(3):Tb nanocrystals precipitated within the oxide glass matrix during the processing and their luminescence and scintillation properties were investigated. In this nanocomposite scintillator system, the incorporation of high atomic number Gd compound into the glass matrix increases the X-ray stopping power of the glass scintillator, and effective energy transfer between Gd(3+) and Tb(3+) ions in the nanocrystals enhances the scintillation efficiency.