Scintillation and optical properties of Ce³⁺-doped CaGdAl₃O₇ single crystals

The single crystals of 0, 0.6, 1, 1.6 and 2 mol% Ce doped CaGdAl₃O₇ (Ce:CGAM) were grown by the Floating Zone method, and investigated on photoluminescence (PL) and scintillation properties. In the PL spectra, a broad emission appeared over 380–500 nm under 280 and 360 nm excitations with the quantum yield of 33.8–38.8%. Under a vacuum ultraviolet excitation (90 nm) using a synchrotron source, non-doped CGAM single crystal showed broad emissions over 250–650 nm. The PL decay time profiles followed a monotonic exponential decay with a decay time constant of around 33 ns. The scintillation spectra were similar to those of PL. All of the samples exhibited a clear photoabsorption peak and Compton edge in the pulse height spectra measured under ¹³⁷Cs γ-ray irradiation, and the absolute scintillation light yield (LY) was highest for the 2% Ce-doped sample with the value of 3300±300 ph/MeV. The scintillation decay profiles were approximated by a third order exponential decay function, and the extracted decay time of Ce³⁺ emission component was around 36–44 ns. Among all the samples, 2%Ce:CGAM single crystal sample showed the best afterglow level as a scintillator under X-ray irradiation. - Highlights: •Ce³⁺-doped CaGdAl₃O₇ single crystals were synthesized by the FZ method. •Optical and scintillation properties of Ce³⁺-doped CaGdAl₃O₇ were investigated. •Photoabsorption peak in a pulse height spectrum was clearly observed under γ-rays.