Enhanced Transparency through Second Phase Crystallization in BaAl4O7 Scintillating Ceramics

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• 作者：Marina Boyer ; Salaheddine Alahraché ; Cécile Genevois ; Marina Licheron ; Fran?ois-Xavier Lefevre ; Célia Castro ; Guillaume Bonnefont ; Ga?l Patton ; Federico Moretti ; Christophe Dujardin ; Guy Matzen ; Mathieu Allix
• 刊名：Crystal Growth & Design
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：January 6, 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：16
• 期：1
• 页码：386-395
• 全文大小：668K
• ISSN：1528-7505

文摘

A series of biphasic (100 – z)BaAl₄O₇–zBaAl₂O₄ (0 < z ≤ 45) transparent polycrystalline ceramics have been synthesized by full crystallization from glass process. Despite being composed of two birefringent crystalline phases, these new materials exhibit improved transparency compared to the pure BaAl₄O₇ ceramic recently reported to show remarkable scintillation properties. Multiscale structural characterizations demonstrate that this transparency enhancement can be explained by the presence of nanometer scale BaAl₂O₄ crystals which crystallize coherently with the BaAl₄O₇ matrix. We show that the BaAl₂O₄ nanostructuration limits the BaAl₄O₇ growth via an original Zener pinning effect, such decreasing light scattering due to the material birefringence. Interestingly, the BaAl₄O₇ scintillation properties can be retained in these two-phase transparent ceramics. These new materials, showing easier fabrication process, especially glass forming, could further drive the development of cost-effective scintillators.