Evaluation of Ce3+ and alkali metal ions Co-doped LiSrAlF6 crystalline scintillators

High scintillation efficiency of Eu-doped LiSrAlF6 (LiSAF) and LiCaAlF6 (LiCAF) codoped with alkali metal ions has been reported in our recent studies. Thus in this paper, we demonstrated the scintillation properties of 1% Ce-doped LiSAF crystals with 1% alkali metal ions co-doping to increase the light yield and understand the scintillation mechanism. The crystals showed intense emission band corresponding to the 5d-4f transition of Ce3+, and their light yields under thermal neutron excitation were higher than that of the Ce only doped crystal. Especially, the light yield of Ce–Na co-doped crystal exceeded about two times that of Ce only doped one.

► Ce-doped and alkali metal co-doped LiSAF crystals were grown by μ-PD method.
► Alkali metal co-doped crystals showed higher light yield than Ce only doped crystal.
► Decay time of alkali metal co-doped LiSAF were longer than that of Ce only doped one.