Advancements in High Density and Fast Scintillation Detector Materials

TL;DR

This paper reports on the growth and characterization of new high-density, fast scintillator materials doped with cerium and europium, demonstrating promising properties for nuclear and high-energy physics applications.

Contribution

It introduces novel crystal growth techniques and provides detailed scintillation property measurements of several newly developed scintillator materials.

Findings

Energy resolutions of 3.3% to 5.1% at 662 keV

Decay times ranging from 26 ns to 630 ns

Good proportionality compared to NaI:Tl and BGO

Abstract

Nuclear and high energy physics research has a need for new, high performance scintillators with high light yields; high densities, fast decay times, and are radiation hard. In this paper we present crystal growth and results from 16-mm diameter cerium (Ce)-doped Tl2LaCl5 (TLC) and europium (Eu)-doped TlCa2Br5(TCB) as well as one-inch diameter cerium-doped Tl2GdBr5 (TGB) and europium-dopedTlSr2I5 (TSI), each grown in a two-zone vertical furnace by the modified Bridgman method. Samples extracted and processed from the grown boule are characterized for their scintillation properties like energy resolution, light yield, decay time and non-proportionality.Energy resolution (FWHM) at 662 keV of 5.1%, 3.4%, 4.0%, and 3.3% are obtained for samples of TGB, TLC, TCB, and TSI, respectively. Ce-doped TGB and TLC have single decay time components of 26 ns and 48 ns, respectively, while Eu-doped TCB and TSI have long decay times with primary decay constants of 571 ns and 630 ns. These compounds exhibit good proportionality behavior when compared toNaI:Tl and BGO.