Optical and physical characteristics of HBLAN fluoride glasses containing cerium

The optical and physical characteristics of HBLAN fluoride glasses containi ng cerium have been studied using a variety of techniques. These stable gla ss compositions have been considered as candidates for electromagnetic part icle detectors due to their high density (5.77 g cm(-3)), high average atom ic number and scintillation properties. Optical fluorescence measurements o n glass samples containing different concentrations (5% and 8%) of cerium s how the characteristic emission spectrum of cerium in a fluoride environmen t. Replacing the hafnium with zirconium quenched the fluorescence almost co mpletely. The lowest exciton level (E-0) for the HBCeAN glass samples was m easured to be 4.39 +/- 0.01 eV. XPS scans of these glass samples showed tha t the strong lines from hafnium, and oxygen present as an impurity, obscure the valence band energy levels of cerium. The refractive index, as a funct ion of wavelength was measured in the visible region and fitted with a Sell meier formula. Abbe numbers of 68 and 56 were calculated for HBLAN glasses containing cerium and lanthanum respectively. These glasses are promising c andidates for fast, radiation-resistant scintillator elements in electromag netic calorimeters ur;ed at high energies. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. A ll rights reserved.