Advances in the growth of alkaline-Earth halide single crystals for scintillator detectors

L. A. Boatner; J. O. Ramey; J. A. Kolopus; J. S. Neal; N. J. Cherepy; P. R. Beck; S. A. Payne; A. Burger; E. Rowe; P. Bhattacharya

doi:10.1117/12.2063382

5 September 2014 Advances in the growth of alkaline-Earth halide single crystals for scintillator detectors

L. A. Boatner, J. O. Ramey, J. A. Kolopus, J. S. Neal, N. J. Cherepy, P. R. Beck, S. A. Payne, A. Burger, E. Rowe, P. Bhattacharya

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9213, Hard X-Ray, Gamma-Ray, and Neutron Detector Physics XVI; 92130J (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2063382
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2014, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Alkaline-earth scintillators such as strontium iodide and other alkaline-earth halides activated with divalent europium represent some of the most efficient and highest energy resolution scintillators for use as gamma-ray detectors in a wide range of applications. These applications include the areas of nuclear nonproliferation, homeland security, the detection of undeclared nuclear material, nuclear physics and materials science, medical diagnostics, space physics, high energy physics, and radiation monitoring systems for first responders, police, and fire/rescue personnel. Recent advances in the growth of large single crystals of these scintillator materials hold the promise of higher crystal yields and significantly lower detector production costs. In the present work, we describe new processing protocols that, when combined with our molten salt filtration methods, have led to advances in achieving a significant reduction of cracking effects during the growth of single crystals of SrI₂:Eu²⁺. In particular, we have found that extended pumping on the molten crystalgrowth charge under vacuum for time periods extending up to 48 hours is generally beneficial in compensating for variations in the alkaline-earth halide purity and stoichiometry of the materials as initially supplied by commercial sources. These melt-pumping and processing techniques are now being applied to the purification of CaI₂:Eu²⁺ and some mixed-anion europium-doped alkaline-earth halides prior to single-crystal growth by means of the vertical Bridgman technique. The results of initial studies of the effects of aliovalent doping of SrI₂:Eu²⁺ on the scintillation characteristics of this material are also described.

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L. A. Boatner, J. O. Ramey, J. A. Kolopus, J. S. Neal, N. J. Cherepy, P. R. Beck, S. A. Payne, A. Burger, E. Rowe, and P. Bhattacharya "Advances in the growth of alkaline-Earth halide single crystals for scintillator detectors", Proc. SPIE 9213, Hard X-Ray, Gamma-Ray, and Neutron Detector Physics XVI, 92130J (5 September 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2063382

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