Mariya Zhuravleva

Effect of Ca Co-Doping on the Luminescence Centers in LSO:Ce Single Crystals

Experimental studies of LSO:Ce crystals co-doped with various concentrations of Ca are presented. Photoluminescence decay time, excitation and emission spectra, thermal response and X-ray excited luminescence are investigated as a function of Ca concentration. Experimental data show Ca co-doping does not alter the energy level structure of either Ce1 or Ce2, but reduces the relative population of Ce2 to Ce1. Thus, the luminescence from Ce2 is suppressed, which contributes to the fast scintillation decay of Ca co-doped LSO:Ce.

Theoretical and experimental characterization of promising new scintillators: Eu2+ doped CsCaCl3 and CsCaI3

An integrated approach was used to characterize Eu2+ doped CsCaCl3 and CsCaI3 crystals theoretically and experimentally. The temperature dependence of photoluminescence excitation, emission, and decay time was studied to better understand the energy transport and migration mechanism in these materials. The broadening and redshift of emission with increasing temperature was explained for both crystals by simultaneous quenching of emission and interaction of emission states with lattice vibration. The unusual increase of photoluminescence decay time with increasing temperature was ascribed to the presence of states with a lowered radiative rate slightly above the emitting states. The electronic and optical properties were also calculated theoretically with the help of Density functional theory in order to explain the Eu2+ emission properties in these crystals. The calculation explains the better scintillation light output and proportionality in CsCaI3. The promising cross-luminescent efficiency of these mat...

Praseodymium valence determination in Lu2SiO5, Y2SiO5, and Lu3Al5O12 scintillators by x-ray absorption spectroscopy

Until now, determination of both Pr3+ and Pr4+ at the low concentration levels commonly used in single crystal scintillators has proven to be difficult. We have found that it is possible to use synchrotron radiation and superconducting tunnel junction detectors to measure the X-ray absorption on the M4 and M5 edges of Pr to directly determine Pr3+ and Pr4+ in Lu2SiO5, Y2SiO5, and Lu3Al5O12. The spectra were measured at room temperature and compared to model samples of trivalent and tetravalent praseodymium, which provided clear signatures of the two charge states. The results show predominant Pr(III) in most samples.

Scintillation Properties of Cs

In this work, the scintillation properties of Cs3LaCl6 and Cs3LaBr6 single crystals doped with various Ce concentrations (0.5 at.%-40 at.%) were studied. In the decay time profiles, both the fast (~50 ns) and slow (~500 ns) components decrease with increasing Ce concentration. The fast decay component dominates with high Ce concentration. Cs3LaCl6:Ce has a light yield of ~20 000 photons/MeV for 20 at.% Ce, while Cs3LaBr6:Ce has a light yield of 35 000 photons/MeV for 10% Ce. Energy resolution was improved from 20 at.% to 8 at.% with higher Ce concentration. Cs3LaCl6:Ce and Cs3LaBr6:Ce are 30 and 8 times less hygroscopic than LaBr3:Ce.

_{3}

A collaborative study of relative hygroscopicity of anhydrous halide scintillators grown at various laboratories is presented. We have developed a technique to evaluate moisture sensitivity of both raw materials and grown crystals, in which the moisture absorption rate is measured using a gravimetric analysis. Degradation of the scintillation performance was investigated by recording gamma-ray spectra and monitoring the photopeak position, count rate and energy resolution. The accompanying physical degradation of the samples exposed to ambient atmosphere was photographically recorded as well. The results were compared with benchmark commercial scintillators such as NaI:Tl and LaBr3:Ce.

LaCl

CsCe2Br7 is a self-activated inorganic scintillator that shows promising performance, but the understanding of the important structure–property relationships is lacking. In this work, we conduct a comprehensive study on CsCe2Br7. The crystal structure of CsCe2Br7 is refined using single crystal X-ray study for the first time. It crystallizes into the orthorhombic crystal system with Pmnb space group. Its electronic structure is revealed by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Two cerium emission centers are identified and the energy barriers related to the thermal quenching to 4f ground states of Ce3+ for these two Ce centers are evaluated. CsCe2Br7 single crystal has better light yield and energy resolution than CsCe2Cl7, but with an additional slow decay component of 1.7 μs. The existence of a deep trap with a depth of 0.9 eV in CsCe2Cl7 contributes to its higher afterglow level in comparison to that of CsCe2Br7. The most possible point defects in CsCe2Cl7 and CsCe2Br7 are proposed by considering the vapour pressure in the growth atmosphere upon melting point.

_{6}

The detection of ionizing radiation is important in numerous applications related to national security ranging from the detection and identification of fissile materials to the imaging of cargo containers. A key performance criterion is the ability to reliably identify the specific gamma-ray signatures of radioactive elements, and energy resolution approaching 2% at 662 keV is required for this task. In this work, we present discovery and development of new high energy resolution scintillators for gamma-ray detection. The new ternary halide scintillators belong to the following compositional families: AM2X5:Eu, AMX3, and A2MX4:Eu (A = Cs, K; M = Ca, Sr, Ba; X = Br, I) as well as mixed elpasolites Cs2NaREBr3I3:Ce (RE = La, Y). Using thermal analysis, we confirmed their congruent melting and determined crystallization and melting points. Using the Bridgman technique, we grew 6, 12 and 22 mm diameter single crystals and optimized the Eu concentration to obtain the best scintillation performance. Pulse-height spectra under gamma-ray excitation were recorded in order to measure scintillation light output, energy resolution and light output nonproportionality. The KSr2I5:Eu 4% showed the best combination of excellent crystal quality obtained at fast pulling rates and high light output of ~95,000 photons/MeV with energy resolution of 2.4% at 662 keV.

:Ce

In this paper, nine different samples of YAIO3:Ce have been collected and analyzed. The light yield non-proportionality of each sample was measured and used to classify each sample as proportional or non-proportional. A variety of scintillation and optical measurements were conducted on each sample, and the proportional samples were generally found to have a higher light output and better energy resolution. In addition, a strong linear correlation was found between scintillation decay time and the degree of non-proportionality. Based on absorption measurements as well as radioluminescence data, it was determined that the non-proportional samples all shared a range of increased absorption near the cerium 5d absorption edge between about 325 and 400 nm. The increased absorption has been reported in literature, and it is believed to be the result of a material defect introduced during growth. Thermoluminescence glow curves were measured for two representative YAIO3:Ce samples, one from each proportionality grouping, and it was determined that there was an observable change in defect structure, but there were no additional traps visible in the glow curves of either the proportional or non-proportional samples. However, the intensity of the 105 K thermoluminescence peak was found to be approximately a factor of two greater in the non-proportional samples. Since the lifetime of this peak is known to be between 25 and 81 ns, it was determined to be the likely cause of the slower decay in the non-proportional samples.

^{3+}

Experimental studies of LSO:Ce crystals co-doped with various concentrations of Ca are presented. Photoluminescence decay time, excitation and emission spectra, thermal response and X-ray radioluminescence are investigated as a function of Ca concentration. Experimental data show Ca co-doping does not alter the energy level structure of either Ce1 or Ce2, but reduces the relative population of Ce2 to Ce1. Thus, the luminescence from Ce2 is suppressed, which contributes to the fast scintillation decay of Ca co-doped LSO:Ce.

and Cs

A quaternary iodide KCa0.8Sr0.2I3:Eu2+ scintillator with 2.5% energy resolution at 662 keV in a 5 mm3 sample shows great potential for use in gamma-ray spectroscopy applications. In this work, we report the state-of-the-art growth of high quality 25, 38, and 50 mm diameter KCa0.8Sr0.2I3:Eu2+ single crystals by the vertical self-seeding Bridgman method. KCa0.8Sr0.2I3:Eu2+ with a size of ∅25 mm × 25 mm can achieve excellent energy resolutions of 3.15% at 662 keV and 6.8% at 122 keV irradiation, which are superior to that of a commercial NaI:Tl+ of the same size. The nonuniformity of light collection and production in ∅25 mm × 25 mm and ∅38 mm × 38 mm KCa0.8Sr0.2I3:Eu2+ crystals was evaluated by using a technique based on a collimated 137Cs source and coupling the crystal to a photomultiplier tube (PMT) in different directions. The performances of the packaged crystals for practical use were also measured.