Scintillation and optical properties of Pb-doped YCa4O(BO3)3 crystals

This communication reports optical properties and radiation responses of Pb2+ 0.5 and 1.0 mol%-doped YCa4O(BO3)3 (YCOB) single crystals grown by the micro-pulling-down (μ-PD) method for neutron scintillator applications. The crystals had no impurity phases according to the results of X-ray powder diffraction. These Pb2+-doped crystals demonstrated blue-light luminescence at 330 nm because of Pb2+1S0–3P0,1 transition in the photoluminescence spectra. The main emission decay component was determined to be about 250–260 ns under 260 nm excitation wavelength. When irradiated by a 252Cf source, the relative light yield of 0.5% Pb2+-doped crystal was about 300 ph/n that was determined using the light yield of a reference Li-glass scintillator.