Pulse shape discrimination properties of Gd3Ga3Al2O12:Ce,B single crystal in comparison with CsI:Tl

Abstract Single crystals of Gd 3 Ga 3 Al 2 O 12 :Ce,B and CsI:Tl were grown by Czochralski and Bridgman techniques, respectively. While both the crystals exhibited similar emission at about 550 nm, their scintillation decay times showed significantly different characteristics. The average scintillation decay time of Gd 3 Ga 3 Al 2 O 12 :Ce,B crystal was found to be about 284 ns for alpha excitation compared to 108 ns measured for a gamma source. On the other hand in CsI:Tl crystals, the alpha excitation resulted in a lower average decay time of 600 ns compared to 1200 ns with gamma excitation. Their pulse shape discrimination (PSD) for gamma and alpha radiations were studied by coupling the scintillators with photomultiplier tube or SiPM and employing an advanced digitizer as well as a conventional zero-crossing setup. In spite of having a poor α/γ light yield ratio, the PSD figure of merit and the difference of zero-crossing time in Gd 3 Ga 3 Al 2 O 12 :Ce,B crystals were found to be superior in comparison to CsI:Tl crystals.