Abstract. Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) has emerged as a reliable method for soil moisture and snow estimation. However, the applicability of this method beyond research has been limited due to, among others, the use of relatively large and expensive sensors. This paper presents the tests conducted to a new scintillator-based sensor especially designed to jointly measure neutron counts, total gamma-rays, and muons. The neutron signal is firstly compared against two conventional gas-tube-based CRNS sensors at two locations (Austria and Germany). The estimated soil moisture is further assessed at four agricultural sites in Italy based on gravimetric soil moisture collected within the sensor footprint. The results show that the signal detected by the new scintillator-based CRNS sensor is well in agreement with the conventional CRNS sensors and with the gravimetric soil moisture measurements. In addition, the muons and the total gamma-rays simultaneously detected by the sensor show promising features for a better correction of the incoming variability and for discriminating irrigation and precipitation events, respectively. Further experiments and analyses should be conducted, however, to better understand the added value of these additional data for soil moisture estimation. Overall, the new scintillator design shows to be a valid and compact alternative to conventional CRNS sensors for non-invasive soil moisture monitoring that can open the path to a wide range of applications.
Although the field of solar cells is the most popular application of perovskite materials, their use in radiation detection applications is emerging. The success of perovskites as radiation detectors rests partly on the same material properties that have led to successful optoelectronics applications, meaning that other specific properties, like large stopping power, high mobility lifetime product, fast response, and large bulk resistance, play a role. In this respect, inorganic perovskites are attracting a lot of attention as scintillator materials with performances sensitive to material shape (single crystals, nanocrystals, and thin films) and growth methods. In this study, we report on the morphological, structural, and optical response of thin CsPbBr3-based perovskite films, deposited by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) and post-growth annealed at 350°C in air, following excitation by different particle sources. The annealing treatment resulted in a prompt structural refinement, grain growth, and oxygen bonding to the Pb phase together with an enrichment of the surface in chemo-adsorbed oxygen probably due to Cs–O interactions, as evidenced by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The film behavior under 2 MeV H+ ion beam irradiation at different fluences was analyzed together with its scintillation properties following an interaction with α particles from an Am-241 radioactive source demonstrating a very fast response for an inorganic material (∼5ns) and a photoelectron yield of about ∼47% with respect to a commercial CsI:Tl scintillator.
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