Scintillation Properties and Time-Resolved Spectroscopy of a Novel Scintillator Material:Ce3+- Activated Li3Lu(PO4)2 Crystals – Corrected Proof

Abstract

The scintillation properties and time-resolved spectroscopy results for Li3Lu(PO4)2:Ce - a new Ce3+-activated crystalline scintillator have been determined. This material contains stoichiometric amounts of Li, and can be synthesized either with the use of 6Li-enriched or 6Li-depleted isotopes, for achieving thermal neutron sensitivity or X-ray/gamma-ray detection without neutron sensitivity, respectively. The scintillation of Li3Lu(PO4)2:Ce is based on the Ce3+-activator UV (336 and 360 nm) emission, and for a 2 wt. % activation level and gamma ray photon excitation, it exhibits a light yield of about 5300 photons/MeV and a decay time constant of 24.7 ns - with no longer component observed in the time range up to 2 ms. Host emissions, while present for some specific excitations in the region of the bandgap energy, does not appear to play a significant role in the material’s scintillation, which is most probably accomplished by the consecutive capture and recombination of free band holes and electrons on the activator ions.