Development and Characterization of Inorganic Scintillating Fibers Made of LuAG:Ce and LYSO:Ce

Similar to the field of application of traditionally used fibers based on plastic scintillators, there is a growing interest to replace the materials by inorganic crystalline materials. They will provide significantly higher light yield, an efficient interaction with electromagnetic probes due to the content of high-Z elements, a wider range of emission wavelength to adapt to the appropriate photo sensors and remain more resistant to radiation damage for long-term applications in highly radioactive environments. The HP3-WP22 collaboration has focused on the optimization of the micro-pulling-down technique and the quality inspection of fibers made of LuAG:Ce and LYSO:Ce, respectively. In spite of the more challenging growing conditions, the ongoing R&D program has been directed towards fibers based on LYSO:Ce. The very radiation hard and bright scintillator material appears to be attractive for many applications in particular due to its very short radiation length. Fibers up to 2 mm in diameter and more than 100 mm in length were successfully produced and show a very promising performance. The paper will discuss in detail measurements of the achieved light output and attenuation in the fiber as well as the homogeneity of the produced samples. For further optimization of the technology, a comparison of the fiber quality and the growth parameters is given.