Utilization of YAP:Ce powder scintillator for 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy

Abstract Using a powder scintillator for a detection of gamma and X-rays allows to create detectors of various shapes, moreover the handling and fabrication of such scintillators is much easier than in the case of large or thin monocrystals. We report on the application of YAlO 3 :Ce powder to Mossbauer spectroscopy. The detection efficiency and the energy resolution of the scintillators made of powders of two different granularities (grain size  ≤ 30 μ m and 50- 70 μ m ) were investigated. The powder scintillators exhibited a comparable energy resolution and detection efficiency as YAlO 3 :Ce monocrystal with thickness of  400 μ m . The Burying of the YAlO 3 :Ce grains into the epoxy resin increased the energy resolution of powder scintillators. The studied scintillators were found to be suitable for experiments in Mossbauer spectroscopy. The performance of YAP is also compared to the NaI:Tl scintillator.