Powder phosphors scintillators are used in indirect digital radiography as x-ray to light converters coupled to electronic
optical sensors (photodiodes, CCDs, CMOS). Recently, nanophosphors have been reported to have enhanced
luminescence efficiency. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate Lu2O3:Eu nanophosphor as a candidate for
digital medical imaging applications. Lu2O3:Eu was employed in the form of a 30.2 mg/cm2 powder screen with 50 nm
grain size and 5% Eu concentration. Both the nanophosphor material and the screen were prepared in our laboratories.
Parameters such as the Absolute Efficiency-AE (light energy flux over exposure rate), the Luminescence Efficiency-
XLE (Light energy flux over incident x-ray energy flux), Detector Quantum Gain-DQG (optical quanta emitted per
incident x-ray quantum) and the light spectral compatibility to electronic optical sensors (Effective Efficiency) were
investigated under x-ray excitation in the radiographic energy range. Results were compared with previously published
data for a 33.1 mg/cm2 Gd2O2S:Eu conventional phosphor screen. It was found that Lu2O3:Eu nanophosphor has higher
AE and XLE by a factor of 1.32 and 1.37 on average, respectively, in the whole radiographic energy range. DQG was
also found higher in the energy range from 50 kVp to 100 kVp and comparable thereafter. Effective efficiency was found
with high values for electronic optical sensors such as CCDs and CMOS, due to the high spectral compatibility with the
upper visible wavelength range. These results indicate that Lu2O3:Eu nanophosphor could potentially be considered for applications in digital x-ray radiography detectors.