Luminescent and scintillation properties of Eu-doped (Ba,Sr)Al2O4 crystals

Abstract Eu-doped BaxSr1-xAl2O4 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5) single crystals were synthesized by the floating zone method and then characterized for scintillation applications. All the crystal samples exhibit photoluminescence and scintillation with a broad emission around 510 nm. The decay time constants of the latter emission are typical for the 5d-4f transitions of Eu2+. From the pulse height spectra measured under 137Cs gamma-ray, the estimated light yields of Eu:SrAl2O4, Eu:Ba0.1Sr0.9Al2O4 Eu:Ba0.3Sr0.7Al2O4, and Eu:Ba0.5Sr0.5Al2O4 crystal samples are 42,000, 30,000, 22,000 and 20,000 photons/MeV, respectively. The observed light yields are notably high, and the fact indicates that Eu:Ba0.5Sr0.5Al2O4 crystals are good candidates of scintillator materials for gamma-ray measurements.