First study of radiation hardness of lead tungstate crystals at low temperatures

The electromagnetic calorimeter of PANDA at the FAIR facility will rely on an operation of lead tungstate (PWO) scintillation crystals at temperatures near -25 deg.C to provide sufficient resolution for photons in the energy range from 8 GeV down to 10 MeV. Radiation hardness of PWO crystals was studied at the IHEP (Protvino) irradiation facility in the temperature range from room temperature down to -25 deg.C. These studies have indicated a significantly different behaviour in the time evolution of the damaging processes well below room temperature. Different signal loss levels at the same dose rate, but at different temperatures were observed. The effect of a deep suppression of the crystal recovery process at temperatures below 0 deg.C has been seen.Comment: 10 pages 7 figure

Comparison of Radiation Damage in Lead Tungstate Crystals under Pion and Gamma Irradiation

Studies of the radiation hardness of lead tungstate crystals produced by the Bogoroditsk Techno-Chemical Plant in Russia and the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics in China have been carried out at IHEP, Protvino. The crystals were irradiated by a 40-GeV pion beam. After full recovery, the same crystals were irradiated using a $^{137}Cs$ $\gamma$-ray source. The dose rate profiles along the crystal length were observed to be quite similar. We compare the effects of the two types of radiation on the crystals light output.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, Latex 2e, 28.04.04 - minor grammatical change

Correlation of Beam Electron and LED Signal Losses under Irradiation and Long-term Recovery of Lead Tungstate Crystals

Radiation damage in lead tungstate crystals reduces their transparency. The calibration that relates the amount of light detected in such crystals to incident energy of photons or electrons is of paramount importance to maintaining the energy resolution the detection system. We report on tests of lead tungstate crystals, read out by photomultiplier tubes, exposed to irradiation by monoenergetic electron or pion beams. The beam electrons themselves were used to measure the scintillation light output, and a blue light emitting diode (LED) was used to track variations of crystals transparency. We report on the correlation of the LED measurement with radiation damage by the beams and also show that it can accurately monitor the crystals recovery from such damage.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, LaTeX2

Study of Radiation Damage in Lead Tungstate Crystals Using Intense High Energy Beams

We report on the effects of radiation on the light output of lead tungstate crystals. The crystals were irradiated by pure, intense high energy electron and hadron beams as well as by a mixture of hadrons, neutrons and gammas. The crystals were manufactured in Bogoroditsk, Apatity (both Russia), and Shanghai (China). These studies were carried out at the 70-GeV proton accelerator in Protvino