Six Mg(2+) co-doped Lu(3)Al(5)O(12):Ce scintillating garnet films prepared by liquid phase epitaxy, with Mg concen-tration from 0 to 3000 ppm, were irradiated by X-rays and underwent a series of thermoluminescence mea-surements from 10 to 720 K. The thermoluminescence signal of epitaxial films originated purely from electron recombination at Ce ions.
It was found that the area of all the peaks present in thermoluminescence glow curves decreased rapidly with the increase of Mg concentration; for 3000 ppm, the decrease was by 4-5 orders of magnitude. Moreover, the bright burn effect was significantly suppressed by Mg co-doping.
Possible explana-tions, i.e., trap concentration reduction or increased competition in free electron capture between thermolu-minescence traps and Ce(4+) centers, were discussed.