Luminescent and scintillation properties of orthotantalates with common formulae RETaO4 (RE = Y, Sc, La, Lu and Gd)

Highlights: • Exploration of luminescent and scintillation properties of undoped rare-earth tantalates was made. • Exploration of luminescent and scintillation properties of doped rare-earth tantalates was made. • Compositions with the highest luminosities are determined. • Feasibility of compounds based on rare earth tantalates for scintillator applications is shown. -- Abstract: Samples of undoped and Ce-, Eu- and Pr-doped orthotantalates with common formulae RETaO4 (RE = Y, Sc, La, Lu and Gd) have been obtained by solid-state reaction. Optical and luminescent characteristics in visible and UV bands have been explored. The most intense light output is determined for GdTaO4, YTaO4, and LuTaO4 (for GdTaO4 it is 111% compared to BGO). Among lanthanide-doped samples, the highest light output is achieved with Eu-doped YTaO4, GdTaO4 and LuTaO4 (up to 136% compared to BGO). Undoped rare-earth tantalates may be considered as promising materials for high energy physics due to extremely high density, substantial light output, and fast decay. Eu3+-doped orthotantalates are the brightest among the studied samples for X-ray radiography, or other application where slow decay is acceptable