Recent Progress of (Ce,Gd)₃(Ga,Al)₅O₁₂(Ce:GGAG) Scintillator for Medical CT Application

(Ce,Gd)₃(Ga,Al)₅O₁₂(Ce:GGAG) belongs to garnet cubic crystal system with high density（～6.7 g/cm³）, high effective atomic number（55）and strong absorption ability to high-energy rays. The theoretical light yield of (Ce,Gd)₃(Ga,Al)₅O₁₂(Ce:GGAG) reaches 73500 pho/MeV calculated by Bartram-Lempicki model, which is the highest light yield in oxide scintillate material found so far, with excellent energy resolution（4.6% @ 662 keV, FWHM）. In addition, the research also shows that Ce:GAGG crystals under high dose of radiation show a better radiation hardness compared with silicate scintillation materials. Therefore, they have been widely studied in worldwide, and are considered to be an ideal scintillation material for a new generation of high-performance CT detectors. In this paper, the recent research progress of Ce:GGAG scintillator is reviewed, including the powdersfilms, ceramics and crystals, microstructure and optical characterization, composition engineering for performance optimization, as well as device imagination.