Neutron detection properties of Ti-doped LiGaO2 single crystalline scintillator

Photoluminescence (PL) and scintillation properties of undoped and Ti-doped LiGaO2 single crystals were investigated. In both PL and scintillation, the Ti-doped LiGaO2 crystals showed luminescence due to charge transfer between Ti4+–O2- while the undoped LiGaO2 crystal showed luminescence due to oxygen vacancies. Under thermal neutron irradiation, all the LiGaO2 crystals exhibited a clear thermal neutron peak, and the highest light yield was observed from the 3% Ti-doped LiGaO2 crystal. The light yield of the 3% Ti-doped LiGaO2 crystal was ten times higher than that of the undoped LiGaO2 crystal and comparable with that of a commercial neutron scintillator GS20. In addition, the Ti-doped LiGaO2 crystals showed high α/γ ratios up to about 0.7.