Scintillation characteristics and temperature quenching of radio- and photoluminescence of Mg2+-codoped (Lu,Gd)3Al2.4Ga2.6O12:Ce garnet crystals

Abstract Luminescence and scintillation characteristics of Mg2+-codoped (LuxGd3-x)Al2.4Ga2.6O12:Ce (x = 0.2–0.8) garnet crystals grown by the micro-pulling down method are investigated. The Ce3+ 5d1 → 4f luminescence is blue-shifted with increasing Lu content due to the decrease in crystal field splitting of the 5 d levels. With increasing Lu content, the shortening of scintillation decay time accompanied with a decrease of LY value as measured at room temperature can be explained by thermal ionization of the Ce3+ 5d1 excited state. Co-doping with Mg2+ results in the shortening of scintillation decay time, the reduction of LY value and afterglow intensity. At low temperature the radioluminescence quenching is observed in correlation with large thermoluminescence peaks, which can be attributed to the localization of electrons at intrinsic shallow traps.