Radiation Damage of TF-1 and PbWO$_4$ Crystals with 20 MeV Electrons

Abstract

We studied the radiation hardness of two types of crystals, lead glass TF-1 and lead tungstate PbWO$_4$, using a 20 MeV electron beam from the LUE-75 linear accelerator at AANL. The transmittance of the crystals in the wavelength range of 200-1000 nm was measured before and after irradiation, and after thermal annealing. % The irradiation was performed in two stages. First, both crystals were irradiated with beam current of 0.125 $μ$A, each for a total exposure time of 720 s and absorbing $5.6 \times 10^{14}~e^-$. % Strong degradation of the optical properties of TF-1 caused by this amount of radiation was observed, while the effect on PbWO$_4$ was negligible (it is a few tens of times radiation harder than TF-1). % In the second stage, only the PbWO$_4$ crystal was exposed to radiation, with a beam current of 0.28 $μ$A and an exposure time of 1200 s, absorbing an additional $2.1 \times 10^{15}e^-$, still no notable effect. % Thermal annealing was performed in the temperature range of 160 to 250$^\circ$C (isochronal) for 10-12 hours. The transmittance of the annealed crystals increased with the annealing temperature and time.