Crystal growth and scintillation properties of lithium potassium yttrium complex fluoride

KLi(Y_1-xCe_x)F₅ (x = 0.001, 0.01, 0.03) single crystals were grown from the melt using the precise atmosphere control type Micro-Pulling-Down (μ-PD) method to examine their potential as a new thermal neutron scintillators. The grown crystals were single-phase materials as confirmed by XRD. Ce³⁺ 5d-4f luminescence observed around 340 nm when exited by α-ray. The radio luminiscence measurements under α-ray excitation (²⁴¹Am) demonstrated the light yield of 450 [ph/5.5MeV-α] and the decay time excited by α-ray exhibited 47 and 256 ns.