New class of indium-containing room temperature inorganic scintillators

International audienceIn spite of intensive study during recent years, efficient room temperature operating inorganic crystalline scintillating materials based on indium were not mastered yet. These materials could be very important to eventually perform experiments for low-energy neutrinos detection. Here, we report on the scintillation properties of a class of indium containing scintillating materials: indium-based tungstates. The following materials have been investigated: LiIn(WO4)2, NaIn(WO4)2, In6WO12 and CaIn2O4, either pure or terbium-doped. These compounds were produced in the form of powder by solid-state synthesis. They were identified by X-ray diffraction as single-phase materials. Among studied materials, undoped NaIn(WO4)2, and LiIn(WO4)2 scintillators show the most promising scintillation characteristics at room temperature. Light yield of both materials was measured as about 30% of BGO. Emission maximum is located about 490 nm.Scintillation decay is three-exponential with time constants of about 10, 100, and 500 ns. Some of the other ternary indium oxides also show bright but slow scintillations when doped with terbium