LuAG ceramic scintillators for future HEP experiments

Abstract

Because of its bright and fast scintillation cerium-doped Lu₃Al₅O₁₂ (LuAG:Ce) crystals have attracted an interest in the high energy physics community. Compared to inorganic crystals, fabrication of ceramic scintillators features with a lower temperature and a more effective use of raw materials, thus promising cost-effective inorganic scintillators. Our investigations revealed excellent radiation hardness of LuAG:Ce ceramics in both transmittance and light output against an ionization dose up to 200 Mrad and a proton fluence up to 3×10¹⁴ p/cm². We also investigated light output and decay kinetics for LuAG:Ce ceramics with different Ce doping levels and various co-dopings. The results show increased light output and slow scintillation component when the Ce doping level increases. Ca²⁺ co-doping is found effective in suppressing slow scintillation component in LuAG:Ce ceramics. We also discuss the status of LuAG ceramic scintillators and future development plan.

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