Scintillators, which are capable of converting ionizing radiation into visible photons, are an integral part of medical, security, and commercial diagnostic technologies such as X-ray imaging, nuclear cameras, and computed tomography. Conventional scintillator fabrication typically involves high-temperature sintering, generating agglomerated powders or large bulk crystals, which pose major challenges for device integration and processability. On the other hand, colloidal quantum dot scintillators cannot be cast into compact solid films with the necessary thickness required for most X-ray applications. Here, we report the room-temperature synthesis of a colloidal scintillator comprising CsPbBr3 nanosheets of large concentration (up to 150 mg/mL). The CsPbBr3 colloid exhibits a light yield (∼21000 photons/MeV) higher than that of the commercially available Ce:LuAG single-crystal scintillator (∼18000 photons/MeV). Scintillators based on these nanosheets display both strong radioluminescence (RL) and long-term stability under X-ray illumination. Importantly, the colloidal scintillator can be readily cast into a uniform crack-free large-area film (8.5 × 8.5 cm2 in area) with the requisite thickness for high-resolution X-ray imaging applications. We showcase prototype applications of these high-quality scintillating films as X-ray imaging screens for a cellphone panel and a standard central processing unit chip. Our radiography prototype combines large-area processability with high resolution and a strong penetration ability to sheath materials, such as resin and silicon. We reveal an energy transfer process inside those stacked nanosheet solids that is responsible for their superb scintillation performance. Our findings demonstrate a large-area solution-processed scintillator of stable and efficient RL as a promising approach for low-cost radiography and X-ray imaging applications.

Metal Halide Perovskite Nanosheet for X-ray High-Resolution Scintillation Imaging Screens.

The quest for the ideal inorganic scintillator

New scintillators for high-resolution gamma ray spectroscopy have been identified, grown and characterized. Our development efforts have focused on two classes of high-light-yield materials: europium-doped alkaline earth halides and cerium-doped garnets. Of the halide single crystals we have grown by the Bridgman method-SrI2, CaI2, SrBr2, BaI2 and BaBr2-SrI2 is the most promising. SrI2(Eu) emits into the Eu2+ band, centered at 435 nm, with a decay time of 1.2 mus and a light yield of up to 115,000 photons/MeV. It offers energy resolution better than 3% FWHM at 662 keV, and exhibits excellent light yield proportionality. Transparent ceramic fabrication allows the production of gadolinium- and terbium-based garnets which are not growable by melt techniques due to phase instabilities. The scintillation light yields of cerium-doped ceramic garnets are high, 20,000-100,000 photons/MeV. We are developing an understanding of the mechanisms underlying energy dependent scintillation light yield non-proportionality and how it affects energy resolution. We have also identified aspects of optical design that can be optimized to enhance the energy resolution.

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Scintillators With Potential to Supersede Lanthanum Bromide

Shearography and thermography are optical techniques, both proven to be valuable tools for material nondestructive evaluation. Papers on these topics, however, are scattered and mainly appeared in optical journals. For the convenience of the materials community, this paper aims to present a comprehensive review of shearography and active thermography and their applications in nondestructive evaluation of materials. Both techniques enjoy the merits of full-field, non-contact and allowing speedy detection of material defects in metal, non-metal as well as composites materials. However, they are fundamentally different in flaw detection mechanisms. Shearography measures materials’ mechanical response to stresses, whereas active thermography measures material's heat-transfer response to an instantaneous thermal excitation. A comparison of the advantages and limitations of two techniques for nondestructive evaluation will also be presented.

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Review and comparison of shearography and active thermography for nondestructive evaluation

We report a new scintillator based on a transparent ceramic of Lu 2 O 3 :Eu. The material has an extremely high density of 9.4 g/cm 3 , a light output comparable to CsI:Tl, and a narrow band emission at 610 nm that falls close to the maximum of the response curve of CCDs. Pixelation of the scintillator to prevent lateral spread of light enhances the spatial and contrast resolution, providing imaging performance that equals or surpasses all other currently known scintillators. Upon further development of readout technologies to take full advantage of its transparency, the new scintillator should play a major role in digital radiographic systems.

A new lutetia-based ceramic scintillator for X-ray imaging

New Developments in Scintillators for Security Applications

The optical transmission of transparent polycrystaliine La2O3 strengthened Y2O3 was measured in both the near-ultraviolet and infrared regions at temperatures between 20° and 1400°C. The absorption remains low until about 900°C, but rises almost exponentially thereafter. The magnitude of this increase is a function of the oxygen partial pressure (Po2) in the ambient atmosphere. The temperature-dependent absorption is lowest when the Po2 is between 10−11 and 10−8 atm (1 atm = 105 Pa), representing the range in which the concentration of free carriers (conduction band electrons and valence band holes), generated by stoichiometty-related point defects (oxygen interstitiais and vacancies), is minimized. The temperature dependence is significantly greater in the uitraviolet than in the infrared, but the optimal Po2 range is the same. The absorption behavior can be described in terms of a simple phenomenological model involving carriers thermally liberated from defect states within the band gap of the material. Various aspects of the model and their experimental implications are discussed.

Point Defects in Optical Ceramics: High‐Temperature Absorption Processes in Lanthana‐Strengthened Yttria

Lanthanide gallium/aluminum-based garnets have a great potential as host structures for scintillation materials for
medical imaging. Particularly attractive features are their high density, chemical radiation stability and more importantly,
their cubic structure and isotropic optical properties, which allow them to be fabricated into fully transparent, highperformance
polycrystalline optical ceramics. Lutetium/gadolinium aluminum/gallium garnets (described by formulas
((Gd,Lu)3(Al,Ga)5O12:Ce, Gd3(Al,Ga)5O12:Ce and Lu3Al5O12:Pr)) feature high effective atomic number and good
scintillation properties, which make them particularly attractive for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and other γ-
ray detection applications. The ceramic processing route offers an attractive alternative to single crystal growth for
obtaining scintillator materials at relatively low temperatures and at a reasonable cost, with flexibility in dimension
control as well as activator concentration adjustment.
In this study, optically transparent polycrystalline ceramics mentioned above were prepared by the sintering-HIP
approach, employing nano-sized starting powders. The properties and microstructures of the ceramics were controlled by
varying the processing parameters during consolidation. Single-phase, high-density, transparent specimens were
obtained after sintering followed by a pressure-assisted densification process, i.e. hot-isostatic-pressing. The transparent
ceramics displayed high contact and distance transparency as well as high light yield as high as 60,000-65,000 ph/MeV
under gamma-ray excitation, which is about 2 times that of a LSO:Ce single crystal. The excellent scintillation and
optical properties make these materials promising candidates for medical imaging and γ-ray detection applications.

Transparent garnet ceramic scintillators for gamma-ray detection

Scintillation materials of this invention have an alkali halide host material, a (first) scintillation dopant of various types, and a variety of second dopants (co-dopants). In another embodiment, the scintillation materials of this invention have an alkali halide host material, a (first) scintillation dopant of various types, a variety of second dopants (co-dopants), and a variety of third dopants (co-dopants). Co-dopants of this invention are capable of providing a second auxiliary luminescent cation dopant, capable of introducing an anion size and electronegativity mismatch, capable of introducing a mismatch of anion charge, or introducing a mismatch of cation charge in the host material.

Scintillation materials with reduced afterglow and method of preparation

This invention encompasses the oxides of lutetium and silicon in various proportions and containing a dopant, optionally cerium, fabricated in the form of a translucent ceramic, and methods of manufacture and use of such ceramic.

Charles Brecher

Papers

New Developments in Scintillators for Security Applications

Point Defects in Optical Ceramics: High‐Temperature Absorption Processes in Lanthana‐Strengthened Yttria

Transparent garnet ceramic scintillators for gamma-ray detection

Scintillation materials with reduced afterglow and method of preparation

High-density polycrystalline lutetium silicate materials activated with Ce