High dynamic range measurement of CdWO4 afterglow

Abstract The notable feature of cadmium tungstate (CWO) is quite long ( ∼ 14. 5 μ s ) decay time of its brightest scintillation component. In this paper, the technique and results of high dynamic range measurements of CWO afterglow are discussed. Samples were irradiated by bremsstrahlung of a ∼ 0.5 MeV, 6 μ s electron beam. The afterglow tail of the scintillation curve was measured down to the relative amplitude −5 . At such intensities, a parasitic fluorescence of a photomultiplier essentially contributes to the total signal. The CWO light emission dynamics is determined by known scintillation components to at least 10 −5 level. Constraints on the existence of a possible slower fluorescence component are discussed.