SrI2 scintillator for gamma ray spectroscopy

Conference · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2009

OSTI ID:967342

Cherepy, Nerine ^[1]; Sturm, Benjamin ^[1]; Drury, Owen ^[1]; Hurst, T. ^[1]; Sheets, Steven ^[1]; Ahle, Larry ^[1]; Saw, C. ^[1]; Pearson, M. ^[1]; Payne, Stephen A. ^[1]; Burger, Arnold ^[2]; Boatner, Lynn A ^[3]; Ramey, Joanne Oxendine ^[3]; Van Loef, Edgar ^[4]; Glodo, J. ^[4]; Hawrami, Rastgo ^[2]; Higgins, William ^[4]; Shah, Kanai ^[4]; Moses, W. W. ^[5]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)
2. Fisk University, Nashville, TN
3. ORNL
4. Radiation Monitoring Devices, Watertown, MA
5. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)

We are working to perfect the growth of divalent Eu-doped strontium iodide single crystals and to optimize the design of SrI 2(Eu)-based gamma ray spectrometers. SrI 2(Eu) offers a light yield in excess of 100,000 photons/MeV and light yield proportionality surpassing that of Ce-doped lanthanum bromide. Thermal and x-ray diffraction analyses of SrI2 and EuI2 indicate an excellent match in melting and crystallographic parameters, and very modest thermal expansion anisotropy. We have demonstrated energy resolution with SrI2(4-6%Eu) of 2.6% at 662 keV and 7.6% at 60 keV with small crystals, while the resolution degrades somewhat for larger sizes. Our experiments suggest that digital techniques may be useful in improving the energy resolution in large crystals impaired by light-trapping, in which scintillation light is re-absorbed and re-emitted in large and/or highly Eu2+ -doped crystals. The light yield proportionality of SrI2(Eu) is found to be superior to that of other known scintillator materials, such as LaBr3(Ce) and NaI(Tl).

• 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: 967342
• Resource Relation: Conference: SPIE Optics+Photonics, SPIE Optics+Photonics, CA, USA, 20090802, 20090806
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
GAMMA SPECTROMETERS
STRONTIUM IODIDES
DOPED MATERIALS
EUROPIUM IODIDES
PHOSPHORS
MATERIALS TESTING
ENERGY RESOLUTION