Luminescent properties of lithium glass scintillator at low temperatures

Abstract This paper describes the change of the luminescent properties of GS20 irradiated by X-rays and alpha particles at different low temperatures with a wide range from 60 K to about 310 K. The light yield (LY) of GS20 declines with the drop of the temperature of GS20 when either X-rays or alpha particles irradiate the GS20. Under the excitation of X-rays, the LY of GS20 nearly does not change until the temperature is lower than 180 K and the shape of the luminescent spectra does not change with the drop in temperature. However, the LY of GS20 irradiated by alpha particles gradually declines below 180 K as the temperature drops, and declines faster than that under the excitation of X-rays. Due to the principles of GS20 detecting neutrons and γ -rays, the results obtained by alpha particles and X-rays can reflect the temperature dependence of the GS20 response to neutrons and γ -rays, respectively. Therefore, we can infer that the low temperature is disadvantageous in neutron/gamma discrimination. This study is useful for reference in applications of GS20 at low temperatures and necessary for other peers to understand the luminescent mechanism of this amorphous scintillator better.