Active optoceramics with cubic crystal structure, method of production of the optoceramics, and uses thereof

Abstract

The present invention refers to active optoceramics with a cubic crystal structure, a method of producing the same and its use, particularly to the optoceramics having high transmissions, high densities and high effective atomic numbers. The optoceramics are doped with activator elements. The materials are suitable to absorb high-energy radiation and transform it to photons of visible light. Thus the materials suit as scintillator media for e.g. medical imaging (CT, PET, SPECT or combined PET / CT systems), security (X-ray detectors) or can serve in object tracing or investigation (exploration, prospecting for resources). The crystallite grains, forming the materials of the present invention, have cubic crystal structures (point and space groups as well as atom layers isotypic to those of the pyrochlore or fluorite minerals) or are clearly derivable from both mentioned minerals in terms of crystal structure. and have the following formula: A2+xByDzE7, wherein 0<=x<=1.1, 0<=y<=3, 0<=z<=1.6, and 3x+4y+5z=8, and wherein A is at least one trivalent rare earth cation, B is at least one tetravalent cation, D is at least one pentavalent cation, and E is at least one divalent anion.

Description

technical field [0001] The subject of the invention is an optoceramic with high transmission, high density and high effective atomic number, which is doped with activator elements. The activator elements are preferably selected from rare earth ions; titanium ions or transition metal ions are also possible. The material is suitable for absorbing high-energy radiation (preferably X-rays and gamma rays, but also particle radiation) and converting them into photons of visible light. [0002] The material is thus suitable, for example, as a scintillation medium (Szintillationsmedien) for medical imaging (CT, PET, SPECT or combined PET / CT systems), security (X-ray detection devices) or can be used for object tracking and surveying (Erkundung) (Exploration, Resource Exploration (Rohstofferschlieβung)). The grains formed from the material according to the invention have a cubic crystal structure (point and space groups and atomic layers are isotypous to those of the pyrochlore or fl...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Solutions known to date are either opaque, or only translucent, and / or have too low a density and / or effective atomic number, or are difficult to fabricate

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