transparent optical ceramic coating materials have been fabricated from europium - doped lutetium oxide using physical vapor deposition and chemical vapor deposition techniques . the non - pixilated film coatings have columnar microcrystalline structure and excellent properties for use as radiological scintillators , namely very high density , high effective atomic number , and light output and emission wavelength suitable for use with silicon - based detectors having a very high quantum efficiency . the materials can be used in a multitude of high speed and high resolution imaging applications , including x - ray imaging in medicine .