Crystal growth, optical and luminescence properties of Na6Mo11O36 single crystal

Abstract

The inorganic material Na6Mo11O36 was synthesized by solid-state reaction, and a single crystal of the compound was grown using the Czochralski technique. The crystal structure of the compound was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The luminescence light yield and fluorescence decay time of the crystal were studied in a temperature range from room temperature to 10 K using a 280 nm light emitting diode (LED) source. The Na6Mo11O36 crystal has no luminescence at room temperature, however, the luminescence intensity is enhanced at low temperatures. Transmittance spectrum measurement was performed to study the optical quality of the crystal. The luminescence light yield of the Na6Mo11O36 was compared with that of a Li2MoO4 crystal at different low temperatures. Because of the possibility of growing a single crystal of Na6Mo11O36, which has a significant luminescence light yield at 10 K and no heavy elements, this crystal can be a good candidate for a rare event search experiment searching for neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay at cryogenic temperatures. © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.