Temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) of titanium oxide (TiO2) shows an evolution of blue emission when exposed to 50 keV Ar+ ions. The origin of observed PL has been examined by X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) at Ti-K,L and O-K edges, revealing the reduction of ligand field splitting owing to the formation of oxygen vacancies (OVs) by destroying TiO6 octahedral symmetry. Detailed PL and XANES analyses suggest that the fluence (ions/cm2) dependent increase in OVs not only boosts the conduction electrons but also increases the density of holes in localized self-trapped exciton (STE) states near the valence band. Based on these observations, we propose a model in which doped conduction electrons are recombining radiatively with the holes in STE states for blue light emission.

While polycrystalline lead oxide (poly-PbO) is known to be one of the most promising photoconductors for utilization in X-ray detectors, its major performance parameters such as charge yield and mobility-lifetime product (μτ) are still not well established and require further investigation. Combining the conventional X-ray induced photocurrent and pulse height spectroscopy techniques we examine the X-ray photogeneration and recombination processes in poly-PbO. The measurements indicate that the amount of energy required to release a single electron hole pair W ± (inverse of charge yield) strongly depends on applied electric field and at 10 V/μm reaches ~20 eV/ehp. Fitting the measured pulse height spectra with the Hecht formula provided μτ for holes and electrons to be 4.1 × 10−8 cm2/V and 10−9 cm2/V, respectively. Obtained μτ values combined with recently reported mobility values of charge carriers in PbO suggest a new direction towards improvement of PbO technology by incorporation of Frisch grid or X-ray transistor architectures.

Direct conversion flat panel detectors are of great significance to the field of medical X-ray imaging since they offer imaging performance and diagnostic capabilities not achievable with other methods. Currently, mammographic direct conversion detectors employ a layer of amorphous selenium (a-Se) photoconductor. Although its properties ideally fit the requirements of mammography, where "soft" X-rays are used, a-Se cannot be used in high-energy X-ray procedures. To extend the diagnostic capabilities of the direct conversion detectors, amorphous lead oxide (a-PbO) is proposed as an alternative photoconductor. It is a high effective atomic number material and thus has a higher X-ray stopping power over the wide X-ray energy range. a-PbO is, therefore, a suitable candidate for applications in radiography, fluoroscopy, and digital tomosynthesis. Here, we report on the development of a blocking structure with a polyimide (PI) layer needed to maintain low dark current at high electric fields. We demonstrate that a 1-µm-thick PI blocking layer allows the operation of the detector at strong electric fields (≥10 V/µm) while suppressing the dark current to an innocuous level (<1 pA/mm 2 ). It also improves temporal performance by reducing signal lag. No ghosting effect was observed at exposure rates up to 1 R/s; however, at high radiation levels, the detector's sensitivity degraded. This degradation is not permanent as the detector restores its original sensitivity after several hours of rest in the dark without bias applied.

Presence of a signal lag is a bottle neck of performance for many non-crystalline materials, considered for dynamic radiation sensing. Due to inadequate lag-related temporal performance, polycrystalline layers of CdZnTe, PbI2, HgI2 and PbO are not practically utilized, despite their superior X-ray sensitivity and low production cost (even for large area detectors). In the current manuscript, we show that a technological step to replace nonhomogeneous disorder in polycrystalline PbO with homogeneous amorphous PbO structure suppresses signal lag and improves time response to X-ray irradiation. In addition, the newly developed amorphous lead oxide (a-PbO) possesses superior X-ray sensitivity in terms of electron-hole pair creation energy in comparison with amorphous selenium – currently the only photoconductor used as an X-ray-to-charge transducer in the state-of-the-art direct conversion X-ray medical imaging systems. The proposed advances of the deposition process are low cost, easy to implement and with certain customization might potentially be applied to other materials, thus paving the way to their wide-range commercial use.