Optical and scintillation property of Ce, Ho and Eu-doped PbF2

PbF2 crystal has favorable properties such as a high density and short radiation length, while the scintillation light output is too small to obtain a photo-absorption peak under gamma ray excitation. In this paper, we report scintillation response for 0.1 or 0.5-mol% Ce, Eu and Ho doped PbF2 crystals grown by an annealing method under 5.5-MeV alpha ray excitation. Although Ce doped PbF2 crystals did not show intense photo- and radio-luminescence, Eu and Ho doped ones showed several peaks excited under UV and 5.5-MeV alpha ray excitation, respectively. Additionally, full-absorption peaks in the pulse height spectra of 0.1-mol% Eu and Ho doped PbF2 were ascribed to 5.5-MeV alpha-rays. -- Highlights: •PbF2 crystal has a heavy density and short radiation length. •Luminescent properties of Ce, Eu and Ho doped PbF2 crystals were investigated. •Ce-doped PbF2 had very small reaction in radio- and photo luminescence. •Eu and Ho doped PbF2 had some peaks from Eu3+ and Ho3+, respectively. •0.1-mol% Eu and Ho:PbF2 had 5.5-MeV alpha-ray peaks in pulse height spectra