Scintillation properties of LuI3:Ce3+

The scintillation properties of LuI₃:Ce³⁺ (pure, 0.5%, 2%, and 5% Ce³⁺), a new member of the generation of Ce³⁺ doped lanthanide trihalide scintillators, are presented. This material has a calculated density of 5.6 g/cm³ and an atomic number Z_eff of 60.2. Under optical and X-ray excitation, Ce³⁺ emission is observed to peak at 472 and 535 nm. A high light yield of 71000 electron-hole pairs per MeV (e-h pairs/MeV) was measured for LuI₃:2% Ce³⁺. LuI₃:Ce³⁺ has a non exponential decay time. The contribution of short decay components (within 50 ns) to the total light yield is around 50%. An energy resolution (full-width half maximum over peak position) for the 662 keV full energy peak of 4.7 ± 0.5% was observed for LuI₃:0.5% Ce³⁺.