60 mm diameter Lu/sub 0.4/Gd/sub 1.6/SiO/sub 5/:Ce (LGSO) single crystals and their improved scintillation properties

We developed Lu
_0.4
Gd
_1.6
SiO
₅
(LGSO) crystal as a new scintillator for medical imaging applications. The size of the LGSO ingot obtained for this investigation was approximately 60 mm in diameter and 170 mm in length. The as-grown crystal was yellow in color. To eliminate the tint, the crystal was annealed in pure N
₂
atmosphere after the growth. As a result, the LGSO became colorless with uniform and large light output which is about 2.0 times that of GSO