Scintillation Properties of LaCl₃∶Ce Crystal with Low Radioactivity Background

10% Ce³⁺-doped lanthanum chloride (LaCl₃∶Ce) crystals with low-radioactive background have been prepared using raw materials with low content of U-series isotopes. The radioactive background was estimated to be about 0.713 counts·s^–1·cm^–3 resulted from the natural U-series radioactive isotopes in the prepared LaCl₃∶Ce crystal. The energy resolution (FWHM) of the LaCl₃∶Ce crystal was 3.3% for 662 keV γ-rays. Moreover, the peak-to-valley ratio, relative light output and peak count rate of the LaCl₃∶Ce crystal were approximately 2.61 times, 87.88% and 1.96 times of that of NaI∶Tl crystal with the same size of Ø25 mm× 50 mm, respectively. The effects of crystal size on the scintillation properties of the prepared LaCl₃∶Ce crystal were discussed.