Peculiarities of growing PbWO4 scintillator crystals for application in high-energy physics

Results on investigation of radiative and optical properties of PbWO4 and optimization of the Czochralski method in order to grow single crystals suitable for application in high-energy physics are presented. Special attention is paid to crystal anisotropy, the thermal conditions of the crystal growth enabling to avoid deviations from stoichiometric composition and inclusions of abnormal phases, as well as to the role of atmosphere during the crystal growth and annealing. It has been shown that the consideration of these peculiarities enables us to reliably fabricate 230 mm long scintillators with quantum yield of 11-14 phe/MeV and without a slow component of luminescence decay. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.