Positional Dependence of Pulse Shape Discrimination (PSD) in a Monolithic CLLB Crystal

TL;DR

This study investigates how the pulse shape discrimination parameter varies with position inside a monolithic CLLB crystal, revealing positional effects that can enhance imaging accuracy and crystal quality understanding.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of positional dependence of PSD in monolithic CLLB crystals, highlighting implications for imaging and crystal manufacturing.

Findings

PSD centroid shifts with position along the crystal

Positional-dependent PSD can improve interaction localization

Results offer insights into crystal properties and internal contaminants

Abstract

We report on the results of the positional-dependent pulse shape discrimination (PSD) parameter observed within a monolithic CLLB scintillation crystal. CLLB, a relatively novel inorganic scintillation crystal, is capable of PSD between gamma rays, neutrons, and alpha particles. In this work, we observed distinguishable differences in the pulse shapes for gamma-ray-induced events. The CLLB crystals used for this experiment are 5 cm (diameter) by 10 cm (length). By using monoenergetic 2.614 MeV photons from a set of thoriated welding rods and performing collimated scans along the length of the crystal, we found that the centroid of the PSD distribution shifted as a function of position. With positional-dependent PSD, one can obtain more accurate knowledge of the interaction location within a monolithic scintillation crystal. These results could lead to improved angular resolution in imaging systems employing scintillation crystals that exhibit this behavior. Lastly, an understanding of the dependence of the PSD as a function of position could give manufacturers a better understanding of the crystal properties and provide insight to the distribution of internal contaminants and dopants within the crystal.