Evaluation of mass-produced lead tungstate crystals

Because of broad interest in high-energy and nuclear physics community, mass production capacities of lead tungstate (PWO) crystals have been established. The optical and scintillation properties of PWO crystals, 20 each from two major vendors, were evaluated. The transmittance, emission and excitation spectrum, light output, decay kinetics and light response uniformity, as well as their degradation under γ-ray irradiations, were investigated. The radiation-induced color centers and the emission weighted radiation-induced absorption coefficients were measured. It was found that currently mass-produced PWO crystals are radiation hard enough for radiation environment where dose rates of up to a few hundreds rad/h is expected.