Scintillation Characteristics of Undoped ${\hbox {Sc}}_{2}{\hbox {O}}_{3}$ Single Crystals and Ceramics

Detailed scintillation properties of Sc₂O₃, especially γ-ray response, are not well studied because of low density and low effective atomic number of this compound. They are reported in this paper. Sc₂O₃ single crystals grown by the micro-pulling-down method and Sc₂O₃ translucent ceramics produced by the spark plasma sintering are analyzed. Optical, luminescence, and scintillation properties of these single- and poly-crystalline solids are discussed and compared based on examination of their optical transmittance, radio-luminescence spectra, light yields under γ-ray excitation, non-proportionality, energy resolution, and scintillation decay profiles. Spectrally corrected light yields of the Sc₂O₃ single crystals and Sc₂O₃ ceramics were approximately 7,700 and 19,200 photons/MeV, respectively.