Cerium fluoride, a new fast, heavy scintillator

Conference · Tue Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:6354007

Moses, W W; Derenzo, S E

We describe the scintillation properties of Cerium Fluoride (CeF/sub 3/), a newly discovered, heavy (6.16 g/cm/sup 3/), inorganic scintillator. Its fluorescence decay lifetime, measured with the delayed coincidence method, is described by a single exponential with a 27 /+-/ ns time constant. The emission spectrum peaks at a wavelength of 340 nm, and drops to less than 10% of its peak value at 315 nm and 460 nm. When a 1 cm optical quality cube of CeF/sub 3/ is excited with 511 keV photons, a photopeak with a 20% full width at half maximum is observed at approximately half the light output of a Bismuth Germanate (BGO) crystal with similar geometry. We also present measurements of the decay time and light output of CeF/sub 3/ doped with three rare-earth elements (Dy, Er, and Pr). The short fluorescence lifetime, high density, and reasonable light output of this new scintillator suggest that it would be useful for applications where high counting rates, good stopping power, and nanosecond timing are important, such as medical imaging and nuclear science. 5 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098; AC03-82ER13000
• OSTI ID: 6354007
• Report Number(s): LBL-26500; CONF-881103-46; ON: DE89007136
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

440101* -- Radiation Instrumentation-- General Detectors or Monitors & Radiometric Instruments
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
CERIUM COMPOUNDS
CERIUM FLUORIDES
DATA
EMISSION SPECTRA
FLUORIDES
FLUORINE COMPOUNDS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
LIFETIME
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MEDICINE
NUMERICAL DATA
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATION DETECTORS
RARE EARTH COMPOUNDS
SCINTILLATION COUNTERS
SOLID SCINTILLATION DETECTORS
SPECTRA
USES