The LaBr3:Ce Crystal Growth by Self-Seeding Bridgman Technique and Its Scintillation Properties

Abstract

The LaBr3:Ce crystal is difficult to grow although it has very excellent scintillation properties. In this paper, the LaBr3:Ce crystals have been grown by the self-seeding Bridgman technique, and the ⌀ 38 mm × 50 mm LaBr3:Ce single crystal ingot has been achieved. It is found that the orientation of the crystal growth has a close relationship with the lowering velocity and the quartz ampule shape. The 1 mm/h lowering velocity is very helpful for the [001] direction to dominate the crystal growth under the certain ampule shape, thus avoiding the crystal crack effectively, and the 0.5 mm/h lowering velocity is helpful for the [100] direction to dominate the crystal growth under the same ampule shape. On this basis, the mechanism of the nuclei competition is discussed. The UV luminescence and the X-ray excited emission spectra of the LaBr3:Ce crystal have also been investigated.