Crystalline YAlO3 as a novel window for photodetectors

Pure crystalline YAlO3 can be applied due to its high refractive index as a novel material for optical elements within 240–1000 nm light transmission. If used as front-windows for photon detectors and coated with a photocathode at its vacuum interface, it improves their light collection efficiency. Its high refractive index increases the numerical aperture of lenses and hence their spatial resolving power. It matches favorably with the refractive index of MgF2, which used as antireflection coating reduces the surface reflectance close to zero. Doped with Ce3+-ions, YAlO3(Ce) can be readily used as scintillating front windows of vacuum-sealed photon detectors for ionizing radiation.