Crystal growth and scintillation properties of NdF3 single crystal

NdF₃ single crystal was efficiently grown from the melt by the micro-pulling-down (¿-PD) method. The grown crystal had a single phase confirmed by XRD. Then Optical properties and ¿-ray excited scintillation properties in Vacuum Ultraviolet (VUV) wavelength region were investigated. It showed 60-80% transmittance down to 170 nm, and broad luminescence centered at 175 nm. The light yield and decay time of it were also evaluated under 5.5 MeV ¿-ray excitation (²⁴¹Am). The light yield was evaluated to be 60 ± 6 [Ph / 5.5 MeV-¿], and the decay time was also evaluated to be 6.9 ns under 5.5 MeV a-ray excitation.