Growth and scintillation properties of pure CsI crystals grown by micro-pulling-down method

Abstract

Single crystals of pure cesium iodide (CsI) have been grown from the melt using micro-pulling-down (μ-PD) method. Two kinds of crucible (graphite one and quartz one) were used for the growth and the grown crystals were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray rocking curve (XRC) analysis. The XRD analysis did not confirm any impurity phases and a sub-grain structure was observed for each sample in the rocking curve measurement. Under X-ray irradiation, strong STE emission peaks around 300 nm were observed together with some luminescence related to unintentionally present impurities. The STE emission peaks are characterized by fast decay times of several ns and about 20 ns which are interpreted as the on-center-type STE (V_K + e) and off-center type STE (H + F) recombinations, respectively. The light yield of the STE-related emissions has been estimated to be 3000 ph/MeV. Other emission peaks were observed at 410 nm and 515 nm. The former one can be related to Br-contamination and it is characterized by a relatively slow decay time of 6 μs. Concerning the latter one at 515 nm, similar luminescence was observed for the water-doped CsI grown by Bridgman method.