Scintillators are phosphor materials that emit many low-energy photons upon exposure of high-energy ionizing radiation such as X- and γ-rays. They have been utilized in combination with photodetectors for radiation measurements, including medical imaging [1], underground resources exploration [2], luggage inspection [3], and structural analysis of materials [4]. The required characteristics of scintillators are different depending on the applications. For example, high light yield (LY) for high energy resolution and high signal-noise ratio, short decay time for high time resolution, large effective atomic number for high interaction probability with ionizing radiation, and low hygroscopicity for long-term usability are important. Halide crystals such as Tl-doped CsI and NaI have been utilized as practical scintillators because of their high LY owing to the medium bandgap energy (5.8–6.3 eV) [4, 5]. However, most halide crystals have issues related to chemical instability due to hygroscopicity. Thus, novel non-hygroscopic scintillators with high LY have been desired. Nowadays, Cu-based halide scintillators have received attention owing to good properties such as high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY), scintillation LY, and no hygroscopicity. We have focused on the alkali copper halide group such as A 2CuX 3 (A = K, Rb X = Cl, Br). They showed high PLQY (~100%) attributed to the recombination of self-trapped excitons under UV and X-ray irradiations [6, 7]. However, their scintillation LYs under γ-rays have not been clarified. According to Hume-Rothery rules [8], a continuous solid solution containing two or more components can be easily formed when two substances with similar ionic radius and crystal structure are partially mixed in the matrix. In continuous solid solutions, emission properties of phosphors were improved by optimizing energy levels in the bandgap and lattice defects involved in the luminescence [9]. On the basis of the rules, the continuous solid solutions of (K,Rb)2CuCl3 and (K,Rb)2CuBr3 can be grown. Thus, we fabricated (K,Rb)2CuCl3 and (K,Rb)2CuBr3 to enhance the scintillation properties. In this presentation, the scintillation properties such as the X-ray-induced scintillation spectra, the scintillation decay curves, afterglow curves, and pulse-height spectra of 1 37Cs γ-rays (662 keV) measurements will be presented.[1] C.W. Eijk., Phys. Med. Biol., 47 (2002) R85. [2] A. Nikitin et.al., IEEE Nucl. Sci. Symp. Med. Imag. Conf. (2010) 1214. [3] V.D. Ryzhikov et.al., IEEE Symposium Conference Record Nuclear Science (2004) 4291. [4] V.V. Nagarkar et.al., IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 45 (1998) 492. [5] M. Moszynski et.al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A (2004) 4291. [6] T.D Creason et.al., Chem. Mater. 32 (2020).
Read full abstract