Crystal growth and scintillation properties of RB₂CeBr ₅

In this paper, crystal growth and scintillation properties of Rb ₂CeBr₅ crystal are presented. The crystal was grown with the Bridgman method using a two zone transparent furnace. The investigation of scintillation properties of the crystal were performed under the excitation by X-ray and γ-ray at room temperature. The emission spectrum of the Rb ₂CeBr₅ was observed in the range of 360 ∼ 440 nm, peaking at 390.5 nm, which is due to the 5d → 4f transitions of the Ce ³⁺. The decay time of the Ce³⁺ emission was composed two components. The fast component was 56.1 ns (98.8%), and the slow component was 329.9 ns (1.2%). The energy resolution of the crystal was obtained to be 6.9% for the¹³⁷Cs 662 keV γ-ray. The absolute light yield of the Rb₂CeBr₅ crystal is about 34,000 phs/MeV, and the non-proportionality of the crystal was also measured.