Inorganic single crystalline fibers for dual-readout calorimetry

This thesis focuses on the improvement of the energy resolution of hadron calorimeters. The approach is based on dual-readout, which consists in the simultaneous detection of both scintillation and Cherenkov light. The comparison of these two signals allows a compensation of the energy fluctuations, which are inherent to the detection of hadronic showers. Lutetium aluminium garnets (LuAG), which are efficient scintillators when activated with rare-earth dopants (i.e. Cerium), can also act as Cherenkov radiators when undoped. Both undoped and doped crystals can then be assembled to build an efficient dual-readout calorimeter. With the objective to investigate the feasibility of this concept, the effects of the doping concentration and the use of various co-dopant on the light output and the timing properties of LuAG were studied. The growth method was demonstrated to induce significant differences in the nature and concentration of structural defects. The optimum geometry, which is based on single-crystals shaped into fibers, favors the micro-pulling down technique. This technology does not outperform Bridgman and Czochralski techniques but was chosen on bases of cost considerations and large scale productions abilities. The optimization of the growth parameters led to the production of single-crystalline fibers of Cerium-doped LuAG with a light output of 8000 photons per MeV and an adequate behavior as light guide due to a well-controlled optical quality. Test with electrons and pions in high energy calorimetry conditions allow to engage a future production of a larger-scale prototype.