Scintillation and thermoluminescence properties of Lu2Si2O7: Ce3+ crystals

Cerium-doped lutetium pyro-silicate Ce3+: Lu2Si2O7 (LPS) is a new inorganic scintillator, which displays particularly promising performance. The outstanding features of the LPS: Ce crystals are: a short decay time of 38 ns, without afterglow, a high light yield (about 26,000 ph/MeV), a relatively good energy resolution (10%) and a good luminescence efficiency when the temperature increases. Optical characterisations, thermoluminescence measurements and scintillation properties of LPS: Ce large single crystals are presented. The outstanding properties of LPS, no afterglow and high-temperature luminescence efficiency, are explained in terms of structure and relative position of energy levels, respectively.