Scintillation properties of GAGG:Ce ceramic and single crystal

Recently developed ceramic and single crystal Cerium-doped gadolinium aluminum gallium garnet (GAGG:Ce) scintillators were studied. We compared their scintillation properties with samples of the same 5 × 5 × 5 mm3 size. In photoluminescence emission spectra, ceramic and single crystal GAGG:Ce showed intense emission peak at 555 nm and 515 nm, respectively, ascribed to 5d–4f transitions of Ce3+. And the single crystal GAGG:Ce had a weak emission peak appearing at 380 nm. The light yield induced by 137Cs γ-ray of ceramic was higher than that of single crystal. The afterglow of ceramic GAGG:Ce was shorter than that of single crystal after illumination. At room temperature, single crystal GAGG:Ce was more severely affected by thermoluminescence than ceramic GAGG:Ce. The primary decay time of ceramic and single crystal under γ-ray was 182.9 ns and 50.1 ns, respectively. Furthermore, the fast component of decay time was found in single crystal. This research can lay the foundation for the preparation of better GAGG:Ce scintillators in the future.