Comprehensive characterization of a YAG:Ce scintillator: light yield, alpha quenching and pulse-shape discrimination

Physics > Instrumentation and Detectors [Submitted on 6 Mar 2026 (v1), last revised 18 Jun 2026 (this version, v2)] Title:Comprehensive characterization of a YAG:Ce scintillator: light yield, alpha quenching and pulse-shape discrimination View PDFAbstract:Solid-state scintillators are widely used in particle and applied physics due to their versatility and resistance to diverse environments and operating conditions. This broad range of applications calls for thorough characterization of scintillating crystals. Among these materials, cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG:Ce) is a promising scintillator owing to its favorable timing characteristics, high light yield, good mechanical properties, and chemical stability. In this work, we report a comprehensive experimental characterization of a YAG:Ce crystal exposed to both $\gamma$ and $alpha$ radiation. We extract the scintillation decay time and light yield, and study their evolution from room temperature down to approximately $-50 ^\circ$ C. We perform a detailed investigation of the quenching factor for \al particles in the energy range from about $6$ MeV down to $1$ MeV, finding a value that decreases from approximately $0.17$ to $0.10$. We also explore the possibility of pulse-shape discrimination based on the different signal evolution depending on the interaction type, demonstrating strong classification capabilities. These results provide a detailed assessment of the performance of \YAG for radiation-detection applications and offer insight into its potential use in environments requiring reliable particle identification and stable response across a wide range of operating conditions. Submission history From: Stefano Dell'Oro [view email][v1] Fri, 6 Mar 2026 16:06:38 UTC (203 KB) [v2] Thu, 18 Jun 2026 08:45:51 UTC (202 KB) Current browse context: physics.ins-det Change to browse by: References & Citations Loading... Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Recommenders and Search Tools Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.