my country’s demand for rare earth crystal materials continues to grow, and high-end productivity needs to be improved urgently

Rare earth crystal materials are optically functional crystal materials made with rare earth elements as matrix or rare earth elements as dopants. They are an important high-end optical material and mainly include rare earth laser crystals and rare earth scintillation crystals. Rare earth scintillation crystals Crystals include rare earth oxide scintillation crystals and rare earth halide scintillation crystals.

Rare earth laser crystal is one of the core materials of solid lasers, which can produce lasers of different wavelengths. The main products include neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG), ytterbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Yb:YAG), and neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Yb:YAG). Garnet (Nd: GGG), neodymium-doped yttrium aluminate (Nd: YAP), neodymium-doped lanthanum magnesium aluminate (Nd: LMA), neodymium-doped yttrium vanadate (Nd: YVO4), neodymium-doped lithium yttrium fluoride (Nd :YLF) etc. Among them, neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet is the most widely used rare earth laser crystal product due to its advantages such as good laser performance, high power, stable chemical properties, high mechanical strength, and good thermal conductivity.

Rare earth scintillation crystals can convert high-energy rays into visible light. The first to come out are rare earth oxide scintillation crystals, mainly including lutetium yttrium silicate (LYSO), lutetium silicate (LSO), yttrium silicate (YSO), etc. At the end of the 20th century, rare earth halide scintillation crystals were developed, mainly including lanthanum bromide (LaBr3), cerium bromide (CeBr3), cerium-doped lanthanum chloride (LaCl3:Ce), etc. Among them, yttrium lutetium silicate crystal is the most representative due to its high luminous intensity, high luminescence yield, fast response speed, radiation resistance, and easy growth.

According to the “In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report on Rare Earth Crystal Materials Industry 2023-2027” released by the Industrial Research Center, rare earth Crystal materials can be widely used in medical imaging, industrial non-destructive testing, safety inspection, geological exploration, military and national defense, aerospace, scientific research and many other fields. For example, in the field of medical imaging, my country’s independent R&D and production capabilities for nuclear medicine imaging equipment are constantly increasing. PET (positron emission tomography) is the most representative product. Its market penetration in my country is expected to gradually increase, which has promoted the Chinese market’s demand for rare earths. The demand for crystalline materials continues to grow.

Since entering the 21st century, my country’s research and development of rare earth crystal materials has accelerated, new products have successively entered the commercialization stage, and the scale of the industry has continued to expand. Rare earth crystal materials and rare earth luminescent materials are collectively called rare earth optical functional materials. At present, my country is the world’s largest producer of rare earth optical functional materials, accounting for more than 80% of the world’s total output.

Industry analysts said that my country’s high-end production capacity of rare earth crystal materials is still weak, and some core production raw materials rely on imports, such as rare earth scintillator. The high-purity rare earth halides and ultra-high-purity rare earth oxides used in the crystal growth process are highly dependent on external sources, and the quality of these two raw materials directly affects the performance of rare earth scintillation crystals. In the context of continuous upgrading of downstream industry technology, large size and high quality are the development trends of rare earth crystal materials. my country’s high-end rare earth crystal material production strength needs to be improved urgently.