Luminescence and scintillation characteristics of Gd3Al2Ga3O12:Ce3+ scintillators

• Scintillation properties of GAGG:Ce & LuAG:Ce are compared.
• LY dependence on sample height and shaping time are studied.
• Intrinsic LY of 56,500 ph/MeV and loss coefficient of 0.175 cm−1 are obtained for GAGG:Ce.
• Intrinsic LY of 29,000 ph/MeV and loss coefficient of 0.380 cm−1 are obtained for LuAG:Ce.
• PL decays at room and low temperatures are studied for GAGG:Ce.

Cerium-doped Gd3Al2Ga3O12 single crystals were grown by the Czochralski method with 1 at.% cerium. Absorption, luminescence and scintillation characteristics were investigated. The light yield and energy resolution were measured under 662 keV γ-ray excitation. The characteristic emission band of Ce3+ 5d–4f transition peaking around 525 nm was observed in the photoluminescence of Gd3Al2Ga3O12:Ce. The light yield of 56,100 ph/MeV and energy resolution of 6.8% were obtained for a 5 × 5 × 1 mm3 Gd3Al2Ga3O12:Ce sample. The light yield dependence on the sample height and on the shaping time was also studied and compared with Lu3Al5O12:Ce crystal.