Development of novel scintillator crystals

Development, preparation and characterization of several new single-crystal scintillators based on binary and complex oxide or fluoride host crystals is reviewed. The micropulling-down technique was used to efficiently screen and optimize the material composition. The Czochralski technique was used to obtain large bulk single crystals with the ultimate scintillation performance. Yb-doped YAlO3 and Lu3Al5O12 were developed to obtain superfast scintillators at room temperature. They also present a unique material system with temperature-tuned scintillation response over the nanosecond time scale. Usage of ZnO single crystals for superfast scintillators is discussed. Several well-known garnet and silicate hosts were doped with Pr3+ to obtain faster-then-Ce3+ scintillators and their performance was tested. Two new concepts of the host-to-dopant energy transfer were realized in the Ce-doped (i) PrF3 single crystals and (ii) congruently melting Me2+-codoped (YF3-GdF3) solid solutions.