Study of undoped CeF3 scintillators at room and liquid nitrogen temperature

In this paper properties of various undoped CeF₃ scintillators were investigated at room and liquid nitrogen (LN₂) temperature. The study was focused on measurements of radioluminescence spectra, decay time, non-proportional response on X- and γ-rays and energy resolution at different temperature environment. Surprisingly, the pure CeF₃ crystals show comparable non-proportionality curves, which are very similar to that presented by inorganic scintillators. The investigation of the phenomenon occurring in CeF₃ scintillators would be another step to get a better knowledge of the scintillators nature, which still haven't been entirely understood.