Crystal growth, optical and scintillation properties of Nd3+ doped GdTaO4 single crystal

•Nd3+ doped GdTaO4 crystal with dimension of Φ30 mm×50 mm was grown by Cz method.•The scintillation decay constants were 46.4 ns and 1199.7 ns.•The scintillation decay of Nd:GdTaO4 is faster than that of pure GdTaO4.•The percent of fast component of Nd:GdTaO4 is remarkably increased than GdTaO4.

A new Nd3+ doped GdTaO4 crystal (having density of 8.83 g cm−3) was successfully grown by the Czochralski method. The as-grown crystal was with dimension of Φ30 mm×50 mm. The structure parameters were refined by Rietveld method to X-ray powder diffraction. The photoluminescence spectra including emission, excitation and decay curves were measured. The photoluminescence decay times were determined to be 20.7 ns (7.73%) and 496 ns (92.27%) monitored at 417 nm, and 463 ns monitored at 453 nm, respectively. In addition, the radioluminescence spectrum was given and discussed. The scintillation decay constants were 46.4 ns (48%) and 1199.7 ns (52%). Compared with GdTaO4, the scintillation decay of Nd:GdTaO4 was faster and the percent of the fast component was remarkably increased. Besides, the light yield of Nd:GdTaO4 can be estimated to be equal to that of GdTaO4. All these results suggest that the Nd:GdTaO4 crystal can be expected as a potential heavy and fast scintillator.