Characterizations of Ce-doped Y4Al2O9 Crystals for Scintillator Applications

Ce-doped Y 4 Al 2 O 9 (YAM) crystals were grown by the floating zone method, and several different characterizations were conducted for scintillator applications.Both photoluminescence (PL) and scintillation show emissions predominantly due to the 5d-4f transitions of Ce 3+ over 400-600 nm.The luminescence lifetime is approximately 10 ns for PL while the scintillation decay curve is best fitted by a second-order exponential decay function with the lifetimes of approximately 30 and 300 ns.These lifetimes are faster than that for Ce:Y 3 Al 5 O 12 (YAG) (~120 ns) and close to that of Ce:YAlO 3 (YAP) (~30 ns).The Ce-doped YAM shows a relatively high afterglow signal induced by X-rays (2 ms pulse) possibly due to the inclusion of a large number of defect centers.Pulse height spectroscopy was demonstrated under alpha-ray irradiation, and a successful sample showed a full-energy peak.