Scintillation properties of the Yb-doped YAlO3 crystals

摘要

Yb3+-doped YAlO3 single crystals were grown by the Czochralski method with a radio frequency heating system. The starting melt compositions of Y1-xYbxAlO3 were varied as x = 0.02, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.45. Photo- and thermo-luminescence characteristics including emission decays were measured within 4-300 K. Very fast charge transfer luminescence of Yb3+ was found, with the typical double peak spectrum at 345 and 525 nm. At room temperature the photoluminescence and scintillation decay curves show a leading subnanosecond decay component without any additional slower processes. The high density of Yb-rich YAlO3 makes this material a promising candidate for fast scintillators. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.