Research and development of Ce-doped GSO scintillation crystals

We review the status quo and the history of development of Ce doped GSO (Gd 2 SiO 5 :Ce) single crystals, a typical heavy and fast scintillator of large light output. GSO:Ce has 6.7 g/cm 3 in density, 1.38 cm in radiation length and 30-60 ns in decay constant. The light output is two times as large as BGO. It shows, overall, the best performance among all the scintillators developed until now. The radiation damage caused by gamma ray from Co, proton in GeV order and thermal neutrons were studied on GSO:Ce crystals with various Ce concentrations. A description is given on the luminescence mechanism by Ce in GSO and growth technology for crack-free large GSO crystals. We believe that GSO crystals are scintillators having all the excellent characteristics required for gamma ray detectors.