Advances in the scintillation performance of LuYAP:Ce single crystals

In the last years, there has been an effort to study and improve the performance of cerium doped Lu0.7Y0.3AlO3 crystals. Since the first grown boules produced with the Czochralski technique, significant progress has been made in the crystal growth process that has resulted in larger crystal ingots and in important improvements of the scintillation properties. In this study, the results in light yield, energy resolution and decay time will be presented from the first studied batches, grown in the pre-production phase, as well as from crystals of the mass production. The optical characteristics such as transmission and absorption spectra were investigated and important correlations with the scintillation properties will be pointed out. The pixels produced in large quantities are going to be implemented in several small animal PET scanners and therefore the observed consistency of the scintillation properties is of great importance for the performance of these devices.