Photoluminescence and scintillation properties of Ce-substituted Pr₂Si₂O₇ crystal scintillators

Abstract

The Ce-substituted (Cex, Pr1-x)2Si2O7 bulk single crystals were synthesized by the floating zone method, and their photoluminescence (PL) and scintillation properties were evaluated. The X-ray diffraction patterns showed that all the synthesized samples were a single-phase of monoclinic Pr2Si2O7. In PL and scintillation, an emission peak was observed at around 370–390 nm due to the 5d–4f transitions of Ce3+. In pulse height spectra, the scintillation light yield was ∼400 ph MeV−1 in the 99% Ce-substituted sample. The 99% Ce-substituted sample showed the highest scintillation light yield among the present samples.