Study on Scintillation Characteristics of BGSO Single Crystals

This paper presents a report on the growth and scintillation characterization of Bi₄(Ge_1-xSi_x)₃O₁₂ (BGSO) single crystals with x=0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.8, and 0.9. The scintillator is grown by using the Czochralski pulling method. By employing a suitable rotation and pulling rates, high quality BGSO single crystals have been grown. Photoluminescence and X-rays induced emission spectra show a broad emission band in the wavelength range from 350 to 700 nm. Light yield and decay time under γ-ray excitation are studied for various values of x in BGSO. Light yield decreases with the increasing value of x. For all the grown samples, the decay time spectrum contained three components at room temperature. This report also includes the measurement of the temperature dependence of the scintillation light yield of BGSO crystal with x=0.1. A change in the light yield is observed between 100 and 300 K. The light yield of BGSO at 100 K is observed eight times higher than that at 300 K.