Response properties of YAlO3:Ce scintillation crystal under ion irradiation

A novel ion-scintillator technique used to evaluate the scintillation response is demonstrated using YAlO3:Ce crystal under H+, He+ and O3+ ions irradiation. The experiment setup, including a forward-scatter target and a time-of-flight telescope, allows quantitative measurement of each ion-scintillator interaction event over a continuous ion energy range, and the related response properties of YAlO3:Ce, including the luminescent photon yield, nonlinear response and energy resolution, have been studied by detailed analysis of the total electronic energy deposition, electronic energy loss density and the displacement damage during ion irradiation process. The measured response properties of YAlO3:Ce under ion irradiation are consistent with that from the gamma tests, which demonstrates that this technique, applicable to small crystals or thin films, can rapidly and effectively evaluate the scintillator performance and, therefore, assist accelerated discovery of radiation detection materials.