Scintillation Properties of LuAG:Ce, YAG:Ce and LYSO:Ce Crystals for Gamma-Ray Detection

The scintillation properties of LuAG:Ce and YAG:Ce crystals were compared with LYSO:Ce crystal under ¿ -ray excitation. Light yield non-proportionality and energy resolution were measured with a Photonis XP5500B PMT. The energy resolution, obtained in this work for 662 keV ¿ -rays, was 6.7, 7.0 and 8.7%, respectively, for LuAG:Ce, YAG:Ce and LYSO:Ce detectors. The values reflect the influence of the light yield non-proportionality on the measured energy resolution. A fast component in the scintillation decay of LuAG:Ce crystal is faster than that of the YAG:Ce crystal, whereas the relative intensity of a fast component for YAG:Ce crystal is higher than that of LuAG:Ce crystal. The coincidence time resolution, obtained in this work for 511 keV annihilation quanta, was 660, 583 and 222 ps, respectively, for YAG:Ce, LuAG:Ce and LYSO:Ce detectors in coincidence experiment together with a BaF₂ detector. Time resolution was also discussed in terms of a number of photoelectrons and decay time of the light pulse.