Scintillation response of YAlO3:Ce and Lu0.7Y0.3AlO3:Ce single crystal scintillators

The scintillation response of YAlO3:Ce (YAP:Ce) and Lu0.7Y0.3AlO3:Ce (LuYAP:Ce) crystals with same size of 10 × 10 × 5 mm3 were studied for gamma ray energies ranging from 22.1 to 1274.5 keV. The light yield, its non-proportionality and the energy resolution were measured with the photomultiplier tube (PMT). The intrinsic resolution of the crystals versus energy of gamma rays has been determined after correcting the measured energy resolution for photomultiplier tube statistics. For 662 keV gamma rays (137Cs source), the YAP:Ce showed the light yield of 32,000 ph/MeV,which is much higher than that of 9800 ph/MeV obtained for LuYAP:Ce. The energy resolution of 4.4% obtained for YAP:Ce is much better than that of 7.9% obtained for LuYAP:Ce, due to its much higher light yield and better intrinsic resolution. The scintillation light loss of tested crystals at 511 keV gamma rays (22Na source) was also presented. The estimated photofraction was determined for both crystals and compared with the cross-sections ratio calculated using WinXCom program. The experimental results of the total mass attenuation coefficients for both crystals are in good agreement with the theoretical values, within the experimental uncertainty.