Development of Ultrafast and Radiation-Hard GAGG for the Next-Generation of High-Energy Physics Calorimeters
Abstract
The evolution of High Energy Physics (HEP) toward future collider experiments with High Luminosity (HL), such as the HL-LHC, requires the development of scintillating materials that combine high density, excellent radiation hardness and an ultrafast response. While Cerium-doped Gadolinium Aluminum Gallium Garnet (GAGG:Ce) offers a very high light yield and resilience to irradiation, its typical decay time of approximately 50-60 ns may lead to pile-up effects in high-rate environments. In this paper, we report on the development and multi-stage characterization of various accelerated GAGG compositions optimized for timing performance and grown by Crytur. By taking advantage of divalent co-doping to engineer the scintillation kinetics, we achieved an effective decay time (tau_d,eff) down to 5.5 ns while maintaining a competitive light yield of several thousand photons per MeV. Laboratory characterization demonstrates that the time resolution under gamma-ray excitation is comparable to commercial GAGG, while the time resolution measured with 120 GeV pions reaches performance levels comparable to state-of-the-art LYSO:Ce,Ca. After a 1 MGy proton irradiation campaign the material retains most of its optical transmission. The results confirm that this ultrafast GAGG composition is a viable candidate for the next generation of HEP calorimetry and timing detectors.
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BibTeX
@article{roux2026development,
title = {{Development of Ultrafast and Radiation-Hard GAGG for the Next-Generation of High-Energy Physics Calorimeters}},
author = {Louis Roux and Loris Martinazzoli and Julie Delenne and Philipp Roloff and Ondřej Zapadlík and Jan Polak and Jan Havlíček and Silvia Sýkorová and Martin Nikl and Pavel Boháček and Christophe Dujardin and Etiennette Auffray},
journal = {Nucl.Instrum.Meth.A},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1016/j.nima.2026.172102},
eprint = {2609.10116},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05759386v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Development of Ultrafast and Radiation-Hard GAGG for the Next-Generation of High-Energy Physics Calorimeters
AU - Louis Roux
AU - Loris Martinazzoli
AU - Julie Delenne
AU - Philipp Roloff
AU - Ondřej Zapadlík
AU - Jan Polak
AU - Jan Havlíček
AU - Silvia Sýkorová
AU - Martin Nikl
AU - Pavel Boháček
AU - Christophe Dujardin
AU - Etiennette Auffray
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/09
JO - Nucl.Instrum.Meth.A
DO - 10.1016/j.nima.2026.172102
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05759386v1
AB - The evolution of High Energy Physics (HEP) toward future collider experiments with High Luminosity (HL), such as the HL-LHC, requires the development of scintillating materials that combine high density, excellent radiation hardness and an ultrafast response. While Cerium-doped Gadolinium Aluminum Gallium Garnet (GAGG:Ce) offers a very high light yield and resilience to irradiation, its typical decay time of approximately 50-60 ns may lead to pile-up effects in high-rate environments. In this paper, we report on the development and multi-stage characterization of various accelerated GAGG compositions optimized for timing performance and grown by Crytur. By taking advantage of divalent co-doping to engineer the scintillation kinetics, we achieved an effective decay time (tau_d,eff) down to 5.5 ns while maintaining a competitive light yield of several thousand photons per MeV. Laboratory characterization demonstrates that the time resolution under gamma-ray excitation is comparable to commercial GAGG, while the time resolution measured with 120 GeV pions reaches performance levels comparable to state-of-the-art LYSO:Ce,Ca. After a 1 MGy proton irradiation campaign the material retains most of its optical transmission. The results confirm that this ultrafast GAGG composition is a viable candidate for the next generation of HEP calorimetry and timing detectors.
ER -