Advanced Scintillator Crystal for Various Radiation Detection

Recently halide scintillator materials, such as cerium doped LaBr3 or LaCl3 crystals have proven to be novel inorganic scintillator for gamma-ray detection and spectroscopy. Both materials exhibit exceptional scintillation properties such as high light output, fast response, and excellent energy resolution. However, these materials are highly hygroscopic, hard to grow due to thermal stressing then end up cracking and suffer from the self-activity. A search for high resolution, high light yields, and nonhygroscopic materials are highly desirable to advance the scintillator technology. This paper presents the crystal growth of a new scintillator material, lanthanum doped cerium bromide (CeBr3:3%LaBr3), and its optical characteristics. In comparison with the high performance Ce-doped LaBr3 or LaCl3 , CeBr3:3%LaBr3 crystals are less hygroscopic, have higher energy resolution (R~ 8% at 662 keV) and higher light yield (67,000 Ph/MeV±3000). Preliminary results on the growth of CeBr3:3%La crystals are presented along with comparison of its luminescence properties with other well-known inorganic scintillators.