Scintillation performance of large Ce-doped Gd/sub 2/SiO/sub 5/ (GSO) single crystal

Single crystal Ce-doped Gd/sub 2/SiO/sub 5/ (GSO) has a good balance of scintillation properties such as high density, intense light output, and short decay time, and also has an excellent temperature response and excellent radiation hardness. We studied causes for cracks in single-crystal GSO which have been a major problem in GSO growth, and tried to optimize the growth conditions by using a two-zone furnace which reduced thermal gradient. We were thus able to grow a crack-free single-crystal of GSO that was 80 mm in diameter and 280 mm long. Specimens with 20/spl times/20/spl times/200 mm/sup 3/ sampled from the large GSO boules with 0.5 and 1.5 mol% Ce have been evaluated for high energy physics application.