Performance characteristics of thermal neutron detectors based on Li6Y(BO3)3:Ce single crystals

Thermal neutron scintillation improvement in Ce:Li6Y(BO3)3 single crystals by thermal treatment

“…The as-grown sample exhibits the distinctive absorption bands of Ce 3+ below 380 nm, corresponding with the 4f →5d j ( j = 1-4) intra-atomic transitions (marked with yellow arrows), which differs from the Ce 4+ -related broad absorption band reported for Ce:LYBO crystals doped with CeO 2 . 12,13,15,22) This clearly indicates that the original Ce 3+ valence from doping with CeF 3 could be preserved during the growth of present Ce:LYBO. The additional scattering from the host can be discerned by comparison with the as-grown undoped sample in Fig.…”

“…This broadband completely saturates before 50 h air-annealing and it is a clear feature of Ce 4+ predominance, as observed in the previous literature. 12,13,15,22) Therefore, air-annealing of Ce: LYBO significantly reduces both the scattering centers and the Ce 3+ activator concentration, the first effect taking place faster than the second one.…”

“…During the past two decades, the scintillation properties of Ce:LYBO have been evaluated, finding that in spite of its a priori promising properties, its light yield is disappointingly low, with 215 and 1200 ph MeV −1 upon α particle and X-ray irradiation, respectively. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] The grown crystals so far, mainly by the Czochralski (Cz) method with CeO 2 as dopant, tended to have plenty of cracks and always presented a remarkable milky-appearance, 12,13,15) thus indicating that the boules possessed a very low crystalline and optical quality.…”

A Comparative Study of Li6 R(BO3 )3 ; R = Gd, Lu, & Y), Single Crystals for Thermal Neutron Detection

“…The effect of different shields on the pulse‐height spectrum recorded for LYBO:Ce scintillator crystal has been studied in a mixed field of gamma and neutron at the National Facility for Neutron Beam Research at Dhruva Reactor, BARC and is shown in Figure . We have reported the details of these experiments in our earlier communication …”

Scattering-free Ce:LYBO single crystals for thermal neutron detection

“…Despite these promising characteristics, the poor crystalline and optical quality of Ce:LYBO crystals has largely discouraged its development for scintillation applications so far. [12][13][14][15][16] Recently, we have demonstrated that a post-growth thermal treatment close to T m can drastically reduce the milky appearance of crystals while the light yield (LY) rises to 4650 ph/n. 11) Nevertheless, to date it is still unknown, on the one hand, what are the origin and nature of the scattering centers, and on the other hand, what is the annealing mechanism that improves the scintillation response.…”