LuAlO{sub 3}:Ce -- A high density, high speed scintillator for gamma detection

Journal Article · Tue Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995 · IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/23.467837· OSTI ID:129132

Moses, W W; Derenzo, S E ^[1]; Fyodorov, A; Korzhik, M ^[2]; Gektin, A; Minkov, B ^[3]; Aslanov, V ^[4]

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1. Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (United States)
2. Institute for Nuclear Problems, Minsk (Belarus)
3. Institute for Single Crystals, Kharkov (Ukraine)
4. SCITEC RI and NC, Minsk (Belarus)

The authors present measurements of the scintillation properties of cerium doped lutetium aluminum perovskite, LuAlO{sub 3}:Ce, a new dense ({rho}=8.34 g/cm{sup 3}) inorganic scintillator. This material has a 511 keV interaction length and photoelectric fraction of 1.1 cm and 32% respectively, which are well suited to gamma ray detection. In powdered from with 0.5% cerium concentration, the scintillation light output is estimated to be 9,600 photons/MeV of deposited energy, the emission spectrum is a single peak centered at 390 nm, and the fluorescence lifetime is described by the sum of 3 exponential terms, with 60% of the light being emitted with a 11 ns decay time, 26% with a 28 ns decay time, and 13% with a 835 ns decay time. Single crystals contaminated with {approx}10% lutetium aluminum garnet (Lu{sub 3} Al{sub 5}O{sub 12}) have significantly altered scintillation properties. The light output is 26,000 photons/MeV (3.2 times that of BGO), but the decay times increases significantly (1% of the light is emitted with a 10 ns decay time, 15% with a 245 ns decay time, and 85% with a 2,010 ns decay time) and the emission spectrum is dominated by a peak centered at 315 nm with a secondary peak centered at 500 nm. The short decay lifetime, high density, and reasonable light output of LuAlO{sub 3}:Ce (the perovskite phase) suggest that it is useful for applications where high counting rats, good stopping power, good energy resolution, and fast timing are important. However, it is necessary to grow single crystals that are uncontaminated by the garnet phase to realize these properties.

• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 129132
• Report Number(s): CONF-941061--
• Journal Information: IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science Journal Issue: 4Pt1 Vol. 42; ISSN 0018-9499; ISSN IETNAE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
44 INSTRUMENTATION
INCLUDING NUCLEAR AND PARTICLE DETECTORS
ALUMINIUM OXIDES
DOPED MATERIALS
GAMMA DETECTION
INORGANIC PHOSPHORS
LUTETIUM OXIDES
MATERIALS
SCINTILLATIONS
SOLID SCINTILLATION DETECTORS