The role of cerium variable charge state in the luminescence and scintillation mechanism in complex oxide scintillators: The effect of air annealing

The influence of annealing in air at elevated temperatures on the absorption, luminescence and scintillation characteristics was studied for a set of Ce-doped aluminum garnet and perovskite single crystals. Positive effects consisting mainly in increase of light yield and decrease of afterglow were found to varying extent in all the materials. It is explained by the positive role of created stable Ce4+ center in scintillation mechanism and by decrease of deep trap concentration based on oxygen vacancies.