Quality of mass-produced lead tungstate crystals

Because of the broad interest in high energy and nuclear physics community, mass production capacities of lead tungstate crystals have been established. The optical and scintillation properties of lead tungstate crystals, 20 each from two major vendors, were evaluated. The transmittance, emission and excitation spectra, light output and light response uniformity of these samples were measured. The degradations of these properties under irradiation, and the emission weighted radiation induced absorption coefficient (EWRIAC) were also studied. It was found that currently mass-produced lead tungstate crystals are radiation hard enough for radiation environments where expected dose rates do not exceed a few hundred rad/h.