Crystalline scintillation materials of the aluminum–gallium family to equip light satellites with neutron detectors

Abstract

Lightweight satellites, which monitor different kinds of ionizing radiation in the Earth's orbits, need lightweight detectors as well. For the first time, the detecting capabilities of new high light yield and fast scintillation materials of garnet structure, Gd3Al2.5Ga2.5O12:Ce,Mg (GAGG:Ce,Mg-HL) and Y3Al2.5Ga2.5O12:Ce,Mg (YAGG:Ce,Mg-HL), which were produced in the form of single crystals and ceramics, have been evaluated to construct miniature detectors of neutrons. Scintillators have a light yield over 45 000 ph/MeV; at that, Gd-less material has twice as short scintillation kinetics. Both achievements were obtained due to the combined variation in the Al/Ga ratio and Mg doping of the materials. When detecting thermal and epithermal neutrons, YAGG:Ce,Mg-HL will be used as a γ-ray monitor to extract background from the data acquired by GAGG:Ce,Mg-HL. Fast neutrons will produce an identical set of charged secondaries in the materials, which can be distinguished by the pulse shape discrimination method. This finding allows us to construct a miniature detector of neutrons to equip even nanosatellites to monitor space and the secondary neutrons.