Bismuth germanate Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂ (BGO) is one of the most widely used heavy oxide scintillation materials. BGO has a high atomic number (83) of the heavy component Bi and a high density of the material (7,13 g/cm³). The luminescence spectrum of BGO scintillators has a maximum in the visible spectral range at 480 nm. Among advantages of BGO crystals, one should note their non-hygroscopicity, mechanical and radiation stability. BGO crystals are stable under radiation doses of up to 103 rad.
Another important advantage of BGO crystals is a nearly complete absence of afterglow. The decay time of the main scintillation component of BGO at room temperature is 300 ns.
All these advantages of BGO crystal are successfully used in experiments of high-energy physics, for creation of small-sized tomography devices and an active protection from background activity.