Nonlinear scintillation effects in the intrinsic luminescence from Sc1.318Y0.655Si1.013O4.987 crystal excited by electrons and γ-quanta

• Published in: Journal of luminescence 2025-01, Vol.277, p.120919, Article 120919
• Main Authors: Belov, M.V., Kozlov, V.A., Pestovskii, N.V., Savinov, S.Yu, Tskhay, V.S., Vlasov, V.I., Zagumennyi, A.I., Zavartsev, Yu.D., Zavertyaev, M.V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Density of electronic excitation; Intrinsic luminescence; Scandium oxyorthosilicate; Scintillation nonlinearity; Yttrium oxyorthosilicate
• ISSN: 0022-2313
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jlumin.2024.120919

The spectral and kinetic properties of intrinsic luminescence from (Y2Sc1)0.(3)(Sc)[Si]O5 crystal are studied. The emission is excited by electrons and γ-quanta. The composition (Y2Sc1)0.(3)(Sc)[Si]O5 is the congruent one for Sc2SiO5-Y2SiO5 solid solutions. It is found, that the crystal emits fairly bright intrinsic cathodololuminescence (CL) and radioluminescence (RL) at room temperature. In particular, the light yield of scintillation excited by γ-quanta with the energies of 661.7 keV is of 12000 photons/MeV. An increase in the beam flux by ∼20 times leads to the shift in the maximal CL energy spectral density from 315 to 340 nm and to the decrease in the CL decay time at 415 nm from 1377 ± 3 ns to 1165 ± 1 ns. Simultaneously, the decay time of RL excited by a photoelectron with the energy of 644.7 keV is of 1310 ± 10 ns while a Compton electron with the energy of 477 keV excites RL with the decay time of 1050 ± 10 ns. Also, we observed differences in the CL yield dependencies on the volume-averaged density of electronic excitations (EEs) at different wavelengths. An explanation of the results is given considering the nonlinear scintillation phenomena induced by an interaction between EEs. It is based on a conception that an increase in EE volume density leads to an increase in EEs nonradiative quenching due to these interactions. •Bright intrinsic luminescence from a congruent (Y2Sc1)0.3(Sc)[Si]O5 compound is found.•Nonlinear effects in both cathodoluminescence and radioluminescence are analyzed.•A shift in the emission spectrum and a change in the decay time are observed.•The excitation densities are estimated and their effect on scintillation is discussed.