Spectroscopy and scintillation properties of cerium doped YAlO3 single crystals

A study of the spectroscopic and scintillation properties of Ce doped YAlO3 single crystals is presented. The relation between the method of crystal growth, in vacuum or by the Czochralski method, and the above properties was studied specifically. Vacuum grown crystals show a scintillation light yield of about 14000 photons per megaelectronvolt of absorbed x-ray energy. It is concluded that cation vacancies present in the Czochralski grown crystals cause a decrease of the light yield. The influence of colour centres such as F and F- centres on the spectroscopic and scintillation properties will be discussed.