Mn2+-Induced Robust Radiation Hardness in Bi4Ge3O12 for Next-Generation High-Energy Physical Colliders

Abstract

Future high-performance particle colliders, e.g., the proposed circular electron positron collider (CEPC) or future circular collider (FCC), demand unprecedented levels of accuracy in energy measurement for calorimeters. Although the proposed high-granularity crystal electromagnetic calorimeter has made great progress in recent years, the designing and matching of Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂ (BGO) scintillators with lower light output and higher radiation resistance, as well as not introducing slow components, lag far behind. Here, a Mn-doped BGO powder exhibits robust radiation resistance with a faster decay time, accelerating by 15%. Doping with Mn3% reduces the intensities of photoluminescence (PL) and radioluminescence (RL) to 55% and 22%, respectively, of those observed in pure BGO powder. Furthermore, Mn-doped BGO exhibits enhanced radiation resistance and can maintain 72% of the initial RL intensity within 2 h of radiation with a high-power UV lamp, while that of pure BGO is severely degraded to 45%. Theoretical calculation mechanism studies show that Mn doping not only maintains the intrinsic luminescence of BGO but also introduces a new intermediate energy level in the energy band to inhibit the formation of color centers. This work provides a new avenue to search for or discover scintillators from existing cost-effective scintillators for future high-energy physics experiments.