Effect of Mg co-doping on scintillation properties of Ce:Gd3(Ga, Al)5O12 single crystals with various Ga/Al ratios

Abstract

Mg co-doped Ce1%:Gd3GaxAl5−xO12 (Ce:GAGG) crystals (x=2.4, 2.7, 3.0) were successfully grown by the Czochralski (Cz) method. Effect of Mg co-doping on the scintillation properties of Ce:GAGG was examined. This study covers measurements of solidification fraction and scintillation properties such as light yield, energy resolution and non-proportionality for each crystal. Pulse-height spectra of various gamma and X-ray sources with energies ranged from 30keV to 662keV were measured. Regardless of the presence/absence of Mg dopant, the non-proportionality curves with lower content of gallium in the crystal structure tend to improve. Mg co-doped Ce:GAGG samples did not show a significant difference as compared with non co-doped Ce:GAGG. Mg co-doped crystals with x=2.4 and 2.7 showed the promising scintillation properties of faster decay time and higher energy resolution than those with x=3.0.