Crystal growth and scintillation characteristics of the Nd3+ doped LiLuF4 single crystals

Sixty millimeter diameter single crystal of Nd3+ doped LiLuF4 was successfully grown by the Czochralski technique. No remarkable absorption due to unfavorable impurities was observed from optical absorption measurements in the vacuum ultra-violet spectral region. The high crystallinity and homogeneous luminescence characteristics were found from X-ray rocking curve and cathode-ray luminescence respectively. X-ray excited luminescence spectrum was measured and the significant 4f25d–4f3 luminescence at 182 nm was observed in the grown crystal. The pulse height spectrum was taken upon γ-ray irradiation. As a result, the grown crystals demonstrated sufficient response to the γ-ray showing the light yield of 420 ± 30 photons/MeV. The decay curve under α-ray irradiation was also investigated and described by two component decay kinetics which consists of the decay constants of 34 and 450 ns.

Research highlights
► The large size Nd:LiLuF4 single crystals was grown for scintillator application.
► The grown crystal has shown excellent crystal quality.
► Nd:LiLuF4 performed significant light yield.