Antisite defect-free Lu3(GaxAl1-x)5O12:Pr scintillator

Pr-doped Lu-3(GaxAl1-x)(5)O-12:Pr, x=0-1, single crystals were grown by the micro-pulling-down method. We study luminescence and scintillation characteristics of the sample set focusing on their dependence on the gallium content. For x=0.4 we obtain the high figure-of-merit material with elevated density, high efficiency, and very fast scintillation response below 20 ns without any slower components. Improvement of scintillation performance is explained as due to the absence of the antisite Lu-Al defects that was for the first time realized in such bulk garnet single crystals grown from the high temperature melt. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.