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1 at% Ce3+-doped Gd3Ga2Al3O12 (GGAG) single crystals were grown by an optical floating zone (OFZ) method and a traveling solvent floating zone (TSFZ) method. To reveal their structure and chemical composition homogeneity, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) were conducted on the as-grown Ce:GGAG crystals at 4 different positions along the growth direction. Compared with the Ce:GGAG crystals grown by the OFZ method (Ce:GGAG-OFZ), the Ce:GGAG crystals grown by the TSFZ method (Ce:GGAG-TSFZ) presented better Ce3+ distribution homogeneity which varied from 0.21 to 0.29 at%. However, the segregation coefficient of Ce3+ in Ce:GGAG-OFZ was found to be higher than that in Ce:GGAG-TSFZ, revealing a different solidification rate between them. The comparison study shows that the photoluminescence (PL) intensity of Ce:GGAG-TSFZ is about twice higher than that of Ce:GGAG-OFZ and the maximum light yield (LY) of 35 340 photons per MeV also occurs in the former. Trap depths were measured to be 0.70 eV and 0.98 eV by TL glow curves. The LY value of Ce:GGAG-TSFZ along the growth direction fluctuated to a lesser extent with respect to that of Ce:GGAG-OFZ; the latter decreases gradually along the growth direction. It is concluded that the TSFZ method helps to improve the homogeneity of crystal composition when growing crystals with multiple compositions or incongruent compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ce0.03Gd2.97Ga2Al3O12 (Ce:GGAG) single crystals were successfully grown by the traveling solvent floating zone method (TSFZ). A series of compositions, where the mole ratio is Gd2O3 : Al2O3 = 25 : 75, 27 : 73, 29 : 71, were investigated as solvents. The 25 mol% Gd2O3-75 mol% Al2O3 solvent component was found to be the most effective in stabilizing the molten zone to obtain a crystal rod with uniform diameter. The crystal cracks were relieved clearly due to the improved molten zone stabilization during the crystal growth process. XRD patterns of the obtained crystals prove the garnet structure without any evident second phase. The characteristic Ce3+ emission located at around 540 nm was presented in the photoluminescence and X-ray excited luminescence spectra. The scintillation light yield reaches up to 34 132 pho MeV−1 and scintillation decay time was optimized to 64 ns with a high fast decay component of about 85%. The TSFZ method demonstrated the growth feasibility of Ce:GGAG crystals that have an incongruent-melting trend with lower Ga/Al ratio in the compositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]