Bright Transparent Glass‐Ceramic Scintillators With High Fraction (Ca, Sr, Ba)1‐xYxF2+x: Tb Nanocrystals Precipitation for X‐ray Low‐Dose Detection and High‐Resolution Imaging

Abstract Transparent glass‐ceramic (GC) scintillator offers cost‐effective and large‐scale preparation for high‐resolution X‐ray imaging and detectors. However, it remains difficult to precipitate a high fraction of lanthanide activated fluoride nanocrystals that determine scintillation properties in glass. Herein, an ionic‐covalent fluoroaluminate‐phosphate glass network structure is constructed by combining simulation and experimental study, which enables the precipitation of (Ca, Sr, Ba) 1‐x Y x F 2+x : Tb nanocrystals with high crystallinity (30.11%). By adjusting Tb doping concentration, heat treatment temperature and duration, a high internal quantum efficiency of 76.07%, the steady‐state light yield of 12710 photons MeV −1 and the lowest X‐ray detection of 180 nGy air s −1 are obtained. Finally, a high‐resolution (23.4 lp mm −1 ) X‐ray imaging application is realized by using the (Ca, Sr, Ba) 1‐x Y x F 2+x : Tb GC scintillator. This provides a new option for the development of low‐cost, high‐performance scintillators for X‐ray high‐resolution imaging and low‐dose detection applications.