Optimized Bridgman growth of Cs2LiYCl6:Ce single crystals and energy resolution improvement by codoping

Cs2LiYCl6:Ce is a novel scintillation crystal with good energy resolution, high light yield, and outstanding neutron/gamma discrimination capability. However, its complex composition and incongruent melting behavior pose many challenges to the crystal growth. In this study, five different compositions of Cs2LiYCl6:Ce crystals were grown using the vertical Bridgman method. These compositions included LiCl at 57 mol%, 60 mol%, and 63 mol%, as well as CsCl and YCl3 at ratios of 1.9:1 and 2.1:1. It was found that the highest CLYC phase volume fraction could be obtained in the recipe with a LiCl composition of 60 mol%, while changing the ratio of CsCl to YCl3 did not show any significant positive effect on crystal growth. In addition, Ca2+/Sr2+ was applied to modify the scintillation performance of CLYC:Ce. A batch of Phi 11mm crystals with different co-doping concentrations of Ca2+ and Sr2+ were successfully grown by using the Multi-ampoule Bridgman method, no cracks or inclusions were observed in the grown crystals. Co-doping showed little effect on the radiation luminescence and transmittance spectra of CLYC. The scintillation decay curves demonstrated that the decay times depend on the codoping concentration. Most notably, the energy resolution of CLYC:Ce is improved from 4.6 % to 3.8 % by co-doping 0.05 % Sr2+ under 662 keV gamma-ray excitation. However, the light yield is reduced because of codoping of Ca2+ and Sr2+, especially Ca2+ having a more pronounced effect.