Multicomponent Rare-Earth Garnet Scrintillators

Claims

1. An optical material whose composition is expressed by the following formula: in this case: 0≤у≤0.1; 0≤z≤1; RE is a combination of ions of three or more rare earth elements selected from the group consisting of Y, Sc, Lu, Yb, Tm, Er, Ho, Dy, Tb, Gd, Eu, Sm, Nd, Pr and La; and X is one or more activating ions selected from the group consisting of a Ce ion, a Tb ion, a Dy ion, a Eu ion, a Yb ion, and a Pr ion.

2. The optical material of claim 1, wherein z is 0.

3. An optical material according to claim 1 or 2, wherein RE is a combination of ions of three, four, five or six elements selected from the group consisting of Y, Sc, Lu, Yb, Tm, Er, Ho, Dy, Tb, Gd, Eu, Sm, Nd, Pr and La.

4. An optical material according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein RE is a combination of ions of at least three elements selected from the group consisting of Y, Lu, Tb and Gd.

5. An optical material according to any one of paragraphs 1-4, in which y is 0.

6. An optical material according to any one of paragraphs 1-4, in which 0.001≤y≤0.

1.

7. The optical material of claim 6, wherein 0.005≤y≤0.05; optionally, y is 0.005, 0.02, or 0.

05.

8. An optical material according to claim 6, wherein X is a Ce ion, a Pr ion or a mixture thereof, and optionally X is Ce3+.

9. An optical material according to paragraph 1, wherein the composition of the optical material is expressed by a formula selected from the group consisting of:

10. An optical material according to paragraph 1, wherein the composition of the optical material is expressed by a formula selected from the group consisting of:

11. An optical material according to paragraph 1, wherein the composition of the optical material is expressed by a formula selected from the group consisting of:

12. An optical material according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the optical material produces light emission from an optically active rare earth ion by stimulating the optical material with high-energy radiation, and wherein said optically active rare earth ion is optionally a Tb ion.

13. A radiation detector comprising an optical material according to any one of claims 1-12 and a photon detector, wherein the optical material is optionally an optical material selected from the group consisting of:

14. A method for detecting gamma radiation, X-ray radiation, cosmic radiation and / or particles having an energy of 1 keV or more, wherein the method includes using a radiation detector according to claim 13.

15. Use of the radiation detector of paragraph 13 in medical imaging, national security, or high energy physics research.

16. A method for producing an optical material according to any one of paragraphs 1-12, including producing a single crystal of the optical material from a melt.

17. A method for producing an optical material according to any one of paragraphs 1-12, comprising producing a powder of the optical material as follows: (i) producing a foam material by heating an aqueous solution containing a polymer, optionally polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) or polyethylene glycol (PEG), and a mixture of metal nitrates, wherein the metal nitrates contain ions of elements that correspond to the elements of the optical material, and grinding said foam material to obtain a powder; or (ii) co-precipitating the powder by adding an aqueous solution containing a mixture of metal nitrates and ammonium sulfate to an aqueous solution of ammonium carbonate, wherein the metal nitrates contain ions of elements that correspond to the elements of the optical material.

18. A method for producing an optical material according to any one of claims 1 to 12, comprising producing a ceramic optical material using a technology selected from the group consisting of sintering, hot pressing, hot isotactic pressing and spark discharge plasma synthesis, optionally using double oxides as starting materials.