Growth and scintillation properties of gadolinium and yttrium orthovanadate crystals

Aiming to explore the possibility of using the undoped rare-earth orthovanadates as scintillation materials, we developed the procedure for growth of gadolinium (GdVO4) and yttrium (YVO4) orthovanadate single crystals by Czochralski method, and determined the optimal conditions of their after-growth annealing. Optical, luminescent, and scintillation properties of YVO4 and GdVO4 were discussed versus known literature data. Scintillation characteristics of GdVO4 were determined for the first time.