Summary: | Five samples of lanthanum pyrosilicate (La<sub>2</sub>Si<sub>2</sub>O<sub>7</sub>) single crystals with 0.5–10.0% Praseodymium (Pr)-doping concentrations were synthesized by the floating-zone method. Photoluminescence and scintillation properties of these crystals were investigated in this study for the first time. The multiple emissions from electron transitions of Pr<sup>3+</sup> were observed on both a photoluminescence emission map and scintillation spectra, including the desired emission band of Pr<sup>3+</sup> 5d–4f transition at 250–310 nm. The major photoluminescence and scintillation decay times were approximately 19 and 26 ns, respectively. When compared with commercial scintillators such as Tl-doped cesium iodide (CsI), the Pr-doped La<sub>2</sub>Si<sub>2</sub>O<sub>7</sub> samples presented a respectively low afterglow level of 32 ppm after 20 ms of X-ray irradiation. Under 662 keV γ-ray irradiation from <sup>137</sup>Cs, the 3.0% Pr-doped La<sub>2</sub>Si<sub>2</sub>O<sub>7</sub> sample presented a scintillation light yield of 3200 ph/MeV, which was the best value among the tested samples.
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