Scintillation

About: Scintillation is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 14022 publications have been published within this topic receiving 187694 citations.

Twist phase-induced reduction in scintillation of a partially coherent beam in turbulent atmosphere

Abstract: The scintillation index of a Gaussian Schell-model beam with twist phase (i.e., twisted GSM beam) in weak turbulent atmosphere is formulated with the help of a tensor method. Variations of the scintillation index of a twisted GSM beam on propagation in turbulent atmosphere are studied in detail. It is interesting to find that the scintillation index of a twisted GSM beam can be smaller than that without twist phase in weak turbulent atmosphere. Thus, modulation of the twist phase of a partially coherent beam provides a new way to reduce turbulence-induced scintillation.

Bismuth germanate coupled to near ultraviolet silicon photomultipliers for time-of-flight PET.

Abstract: Bismuth germanate (BGO) was a very attractive scintillator in early-generation positron emission tomography (PET) scanners. However, the major disadvantages of BGO are lower light yield and longer rise and decay time compared to currently popular scintillators such as LSO and LYSO. This results in poorer coincidence timing resolution and it has generally been assumed that BGO is not a suitable scintillator for time-of-flight (TOF) PET applications. However, when a 511 keV photon interacts in a scintillator, a number of Cerenkov photons are produced promptly by energetic electrons released by photoelectric or Compton interactions. If these prompt photons can be captured, they could provide a better timing trigger for PET. Since BGO has a high refractive index (increasing the Cerenkov light yield) and excellent optical transparency down to 320 nm (Cerenkov light yield is higher at shorter wavelengths), we hypothesized that the coincidence timing resolution of BGO can be significantly improved by efficient detection of the Cerenkov photons. However, since the number of Cerenkov photons is far less than the number of scintillation photons, and they are more abundant in the UV and blue part of the spectrum, photosensors need to have high UV/blue sensitivity, fast temporal response, and very low noise in order to trigger on the faint Cerenkov signal. In this respect, NUV-HD silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) (FBK, Trento, Italy) are an excellent fit for our approach. In this study, coincidence events were measured using BGO crystals coupled with NUV-HD SiPMs. The existence and influence of Cerenkov photons on the timing measurements were studied using different configurations to exploit the directionality of the Cerenkov emissions. Coincidence resolving time values (FWHM) of ~270 ps from 2 × 3 × 2 mm3 BGO crystals and ~560 ps from 3 × 3 × 20 mm3 BGO crystals were obtained. To our knowledge, these are the best coincidence resolving time values reported for BGO to date. With these values, BGO can be considered as a relevant scintillator for TOF PET scanners, especially if photodetectors with even better near UV/blue response can be developed to further improve the efficiency of Cerenkov light detection.

Development and Performance Test of Picosecond Pulse X-ray Excited Streak Camera System for Scintillator Characterization

Abstract: To observe time and wavelength-resolved scintillation events, picosecond pulse X-ray excited streak camera system is developed. The wavelength range spreads from vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) to near infrared region (110–900 nm) and the instrumental response function is around 80 ps. This work describes the principle of the newly developed instrument and the first performance test using BaF2 single crystal scintillator. Core valence luminescence of BaF2 peaking around 190 and 220 nm is clearly detected by our system, and the decay time turned out to be of 0.7 ns. These results are consistent with literature and confirm that our system properly works.