Performance of new ceramic scintillators for gamma and x-ray detection

Conference · Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2007

OSTI ID:963400

Wisniewski, Dariusz J ^[1]; Boatner, Lynn A ^[1]; Neal, John S ^[1]; Jellison, Jr, Gerald Earle ^[1]; Ramey, Joanne Oxendine ^[1]; North, Andrea L ^[1]; Wisniewska, Monika ^[1]; Lempicki, Aleksander ^[2]; Brecher, Charlie ^[2]; Glodo, J. ^[3]

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1. ORNL
2. ALEM Associates, Boston
3. Radiation Monitoring Devices, Watertown, MA

Ceramic materials show significant promise for the production of reasonably priced, large-size scintillators. Ceramics have recently received a great deal of attention in the field of materials for laser applications, and the technology for fabricating high-optical-quality polycrystalline ceramics of cubic materials has been well developed. The formation of transparent ceramics of non-cubic materials is, however, much more difficult as a result of birefringence effects in differently oriented grains. Here, we will describe the performance of a few new ceramics developed for the detection of gamma- and x-ray radiation. Results are presented for ceramic analogs of three crystalline materials - cubic Lu2O3, and non-cubic LaBr3, and Lu2SiO5 or LSO (hexagonal, and monoclinic structures, respectively). The impact of various sintering, hot-pressing and post-formation annealing procedures on the light yield, transparency, and other parameters, will be discussed. The study of LaBr3:Ce shows that fairly translucent ceramics of rare-earth halides can be fabricated and they can reach relatively high light yield values. Despite the fact that no evidence for texturing has been found in our LSO:Ce ceramic microstructures, the material demonstrates a surprisingly high level of translucency or transparency. While the scintillation of LSO:Ce ceramic reaches a light yield level of about 86 % of that of a good LSO:Ce single crystal, its decay time is even faster, and the long term afterglow is lower than in LSO single crystals.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 963400
• Resource Relation: Conference: SPIE, San Diego, CA, USA, 20070826, 20070830
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
PHOSPHORS
CERAMICS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
GAMMA DETECTION
X-RAY DETECTION
LUTETIUM OXIDES
LANTHANUM BROMIDES
LUTETIUM SILICATES
HEAT TREATMENTS
scintillators
scintillation
ceramics
LSO:Ce
LaBr3:Ce
Lu2O3:Eu
luminescence
afterglow