Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 486 (2002) 799–802 Infrared scintillation of Yb(10%):YAG crystal P. Antonini a , S. Belogurov b,c, *, G. Bressi d , G. Carugno b , D. Iannuzzi d,e a Dipartimento di Fisica, Universit " a di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy b INFN, Sezione di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy c Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, B. Cheremushkinskaya 25, 117259 Moscow, Russia d INFN, Sezione di Pavia, Via Bassi 6, 27100 Pavia, Italy e Dipartimento di Fisica Nucleare e Teorica, Universit " a di Pavia, Via U. Bassi 6, 27100 Pavia, Italy Received 16 July 2001; received in revised form 1 October 2001; accepted 1 November 2001 Abstract Ytterbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnets (Yb:YAG) are known as IR laser crystals. Previously, we have shown that they are also fast scintillators in the near UV region. In this work we report on the measurements of IR scintillation properties of Yb(10%):YAG crystal. It emits at room temperature at 1:03 mm with a light yield of ð7978Þ 10 3 photons=MeV and a decay time of 1:9 ms when excited by 90 keV electrons. With decreasing temperature both light yield and decay time decrease. r 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 07.57.c; 07.77.ka; 29.40.Mc; 78.60.Hk Keywords: Infrared scintillation; Temperature dependence 1. Introduction Recently, we have reported on the measure- ments of Yb:YAG crystal scintillation properties [1,2]. We observed that * The spectrum shows a broad line centered about 335 nm: * The scintillation time is less than about 20 ns: * The light yield at –1501C for a particles is ð872Þ 10 3 photons=MeV: The present work extends our study to the IR region. Detectors based on infrared (IR) scintilla- tion could be a promising resource for particle detection and medical imaging [3,4]. Since Yb:YAG crystals are used as laser crystals, emitting at 1:0296 mm [5], we decided to measure the infrared scintillation properties of one of such crystals. 2. Experimental setup A simplified schematics of the experimental setup for the measurements of IR scintillation properties of the crystal is shown in Fig. 1. We excited a sample with a beam from the electron gun described elsewhere [6], used in pulse mode. For measurements of temperature depen- dencies, the sample was placed inside a dewar and *Corresponding author. INFN, Sezione di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy. E-mail address: belogurov@pd.infn.it (S. Belogurov). 0168-9002/01/$ - see front matter r 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0168-9002(01)02164-7