Space applications of GAGG:Ce scintillators: a study of afterglow emission by proton irradiation
Abstract
We discuss the results of a proton irradiation campaign of a GAGG:Ce (Cerium-doped Gadolinium Aluminum Gallium Garnet) scintillation crystal, carried out in the framework of the HERMES-TP/SP (High Energy Rapid Modular Ensemble of Satellites - Technological and Scientific Pathfinder) mission. A scintillator sample was irradiated with 70 MeV protons, at levels equivalent to those expected in equatorial and sun-synchronous low-Earth orbits over orbital periods spanning 6 months to 10 years. The data we acquired are used to introduce an original model of GAGG:Ce afterglow emission. Results from this model are applied to the HERMES-TP/SP scenario, aiming at an upper-bound estimate of the detector performance degradation resulting from afterglow emission.
- Publication:
-
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B
- Pub Date:
- February 2022
- DOI:
- 10.1016/j.nimb.2021.12.006
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2112.02897
- Bibcode:
- 2022NIMPB.513...33D
- Keywords:
-
- 00-01;
- 99-00;
- Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics;
- Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
- E-Print:
- Nucl.Instrum.Meth.B 513 (2022): 33-43