Scintillation

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

LuAlO/sub 3/:Ce-a high density, high speed scintillator for gamma detection

Abstract: We present measurements of the scintillation properties of cerium doped lutetium aluminum perovskite, LuAlO/sub 3/:Ce, a new dense (/spl rho/=8.34 g/cm/sup 3/) inorganic scintillator. This material has a 511 keV interaction length and photoelectric fraction of 1.1 cm and 32% respectively, which are well suited to gamma ray detection. In powdered form with 0.5% cerium concentration, the scintillation light output is estimated to be 9,600 photons/MeV of deposited energy, the emission spectrum is a single peak centered at 390 nm, and the fluorescence lifetime is described by the sum of 3 exponential terms, with 60% of the light being emitted with a 11 ns decay time, 26% with a 28 ns decay time, and 13% with a 835 ns decay time. Single crystals contaminated with /spl ap/10% lutetium aluminum garnet (Lu/sub 3/Al/sub 5/O/sub 12/) have significantly altered scintillation properties. The light output is 26,000 photons/MeV (3.2 times that of BGO), but the decay time increases significantly (1% of the light is emitted with a 10 ns decay time, 15% with a 245 ns decay time, and 85% with a 2010 ns decay time) and the emission spectrum is dominated by a peak centered at 315 nm with a secondary peak centered at 500 nm. The short decay lifetime, high density, and reasonable light output of LuAlO/sub 3/:Ce (the perovskite phase) suggest that it is useful for applications where high counting rates, good stopping power, good energy resolution, and fast timing are important. However, it is necessary to grow single crystals that are uncontaminated by the garnet phase to realize these properties. >

Results for aliovalent doping of CeBr3 with Ca2

Abstract: Despite the outstanding scintillation performance characteristics of cerium tribromide (CeBr3) and cerium-activated lanthanum tribromide, their commercial availability and application are limited due to the difficulties of growing large, crack-free single crystals from these fragile materials. This investigation employed aliovalent doping to increase crystal strength while maintaining the optical properties of the crystal. One divalent dopant (Ca2+) was used as a dopant to strengthen CeBr3 without negatively impacting scintillation performance. Ingots containing nominal concentrations of 1.9% of the Ca2+ dopant were grown, i.e., 1.9% of the CeBr3 molecules were replaced by CaBr2 molecules, to match our target replacement of 1 out of 54 cerium atoms be replaced by a calcium atom. Precisely the mixture was composed of 2.26 g of CaBr2 added to 222.14 g of CeBr3. Preliminary scintillation measurements are presented for this aliovalently doped scintillator. Ca2+-doped CeBr3 exhibited little or no change in the peak fluorescence emission for 371 nm optical excitation for CeBr3. The structural, electronic, and optical properties of CeBr3 crystals were studied using the density functional theory within the generalized gradient approximation. Calculated lattice parameters are in agreement with the experimental data. The energy band structures and density of states were obtained. The optical properties of CeBr3, including the dielectric function, were calculated.

Bright and fast scintillation of organolead perovskite MAPbBr3 at low temperatures

Abstract: We report the excellent scintillation properties of MAPbBr3, an organic–inorganic trihalide perovskite (OTP). The characteristic scintillation time constants were determined using pulsed monochromatic 14 keV X-rays from a synchrotron. We find that between 50 and 130 K the MAPbBr3 crystal exhibits a very fast and intense scintillation response, with the fast (τf) and slow (τs) decay components reaching 0.1 and 1 ns, respectively. The light yield of MAPbBr3 is estimated to be 90 000 ± 18 000 ph MeV−1 at 77 K and 116 000 ± 23 000 ph MeV−1 at 8 K.

Aperture averaging for optimizing receiver design and system performance on free-space optical communication links

Abstract: Feature Issue on Optical Wireless Communications (OWC) We have developed a flexible, empirical approach for optimizing the design of free-space optical communication links by using multiframe image analysis of received intensity scintillation patterns. This is a versatile way to perform aperture-averaging analysis. A high-performance digital camera with a frame-grabbing computer interface is used to capture received intensity distributions of a He-Ne laser beam propagating in weak and intermediate turbulence conditions. The aperture-averaging results demonstrate the expected reduction in intensity fluctuations due to increasing the receiver aperture diameter for various strengths of turbulence. Aperture averaging improves the bit error rate.

Wind measurements by the temporal cross-correlation of the optical scintillations.

Abstract: Various methods of correlation analysis that have been used to deduce crosswind from a drifting scintillation pattern are briefly described and then compared with regard to their immunity to noise and their accuracy when faced with nonuniformities along the propagation path or changes in the characteristics of the turbulence. Of the techniques considered, none is ideal; but a new technique, using complete knowledge of the cross-covariance function, proves to be advantageous in a wide variety of situations.