Synthesis and characterization of Gd3Ga3Al2O12:Ce by solid state and chemical routes

Ce doped scintillators have good combination of light output and fast decay time. Gd3Ga3Al2O12:Ce (GGAG:Ce) have proven to be promising host materials due to their high density, broad transmission range and easy doping with rare earth elements like Ce. In many applications, these crystals have many advantages over CsI(Tl), including a high density of 6.7 g/cm3, fast decay time of 55 ns and non-hygroscopic nature. The broad emission, situated at 550 nm allows Si-photodiodes to be used to detect the emission which makes compact detector geometry. Single crystals of Ce doped GGAG were grown using the Czochralski technique. However, the crystal growth process is very costly and takes long duration. A substitute for the single crystals will be transparent ceramics of this material