Application of X-ray fluorescence spectrometry on quality control of scintillation crystals

The major components PbO and WO(3) in PWO crystals, Bi(2)O(3) and GeO(2) in BGO crystals, as well as Gd, La, Nb, Mg, Mo, Bi, Sb and Y doped in PWO crystals and Eu doped in BGO crystals were successfully determined with X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) using fusion techniques. Calibration standards were synthesized with high-purity oxides and standard solutions. The analysis results can meet the general requirements of the quality control of the crystal growth and research purpose. The relative standard deviations for Bi(2)O(3), GeO(2), PbO and WO(3) are 0.21%, 0.18%, 0.25% and 0.22%, respectively (k = 8). The detection limits for dopants in PWO are below 5 mu g/g for Gd, La, Nb, Mo, Sb and Y and below 20 mu g/g for Mg and Bi. The detection limits for Eu doped in BGO are 8 mu g/g. The testing results of XRF were compared with those of inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy. It was found that the relative differences of the testing results between the two methods are less than 10% for most dopants in PWO crystals. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.