Abstract

Trivalent cerium ions doped silica materials can be utilized as scintillator to detect ionizing radiation. At the same time, the damage induced by ionizing radiation can also influence the luminescence properties of Ce³⁺. In our research, we present the photoluminescence (PL) properties of Ce³⁺- doped silica materials prepared by sol-gel method after irradiation by ⁶⁰Co gamma rays. The results show that PL emission band of Ce³⁺ in silica matrix has not changed pronouncedly, but the luminescence intensity decreases after irradiated by the dose of 500 Gy, 1 kGy and 10 kGy, which is due to the absorption of defect centers induced by the radiation damage. This implies that the radiation damage should be considered in the application of Ce³⁺-doped silica material as the scintillator detector.

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