Study of the optical and radiation damage properties of lead tungstate crystals

摘要

Lead tungstate (PbWO(sub 4)) is a new scintillating material which is of great interest for use in high energy electromagnetic calorimeters. It has a very high density, short radiation length and small Moliere radius and has a scintillation light output which peaks between 450--550 nm with a decay time in the range from 5--15 ns. It is presently being considered for use in two large, high resolution electromagnetic calorimeters, one for the CMS experiment and the other for the ALICE experiment, at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. In order to meet the stringent demands of these two experiments, the crystals are required to be of high purity, produced uniform light output, and, in the case of CMS, be resistant to radiation damage up to several megarads. Here, a study has been made of the optical and radiation damage properties of undoped and niobium doped lead tungstate crystals. Data were obtained on the optical absorbance, the intensity and decay time of the scintillation light output, and the radioluminescence and photoluminescence emission spectra. Radiation damage was studied in several undoped and niobium doped samples using (sup 60)Co gamma ray irradiation. The change in optical absorption and observed scintillation light output was measured as a function of dose up to total cumulative doses on the order of 800 krad. The radiation induced phosphorescence and thermoluminescence was also measured, as well as recovery from damage by optical bleaching and thermal annealing. An investigation was also made to determine trace element impurities in several samples.