Comparative study of optical and scintillation properties of YVO4, (Lu0.5Y0.5)VO4, and LuVO4 single crystals

Optical and scintillation properties of YVO4, (Lu0.5Y0.5)VO4, and LuVO4 single crystals grown by the Czochralski (CZ) method with RF heating system are compared. All vanadate crystals show high transmittance (∼80%) in the 400–900 nm wavelength range. In both photo- and radio-luminescence spectra, intense peak around 400–500 nm, which was ascribed to the transition from triplet state of VO43−, was clearly observed. The main decay time component was about 38 μs (YVO4), 18 μs ((Lu0.5Y0.5)VO4), and 17 μs (LuVO4) under 340 nm excitation. The scintillation light yields of YVO4, (Lu0.5Y0.5)VO4, and LuVO4 crystals (obtained from the 137Cs excited pulse height spectra) were evaluated to be about 11,200, 10,700, and 10,300 ph/MeV, respectively.