How User’s Requirements Influence the Development of Scintillators

Vacuum Referred Binding Energy of the Single 3d, 4d, or 5d Electron in Transition Metal and Lanthanide Impurities in Compounds

“…We live in a world where energy and resource efficiencies are becoming more and more important. Optimized luminescent materials are required for light emitting diodes of the correct hue, [1][2][3][4] to improve the efficiency of solar cells, [5][6][7] to make longer lasting and brighter "glow in the dark" phosphors, [8][9][10] and for faster, brighter, more proportional scintillators for particle and astro-physics, medical imaging and homeland security, [11][12][13][14] and this is all needed with resources that may be limited by physical availability or global politics. [15][16][17][18] It is neccessary therefore to find improved and/or alternative luminescent materials.…”

Bright Innovations: Review of Next-Generation Advances in Scintillator Engineering

“…The methods for fabricating layered structures, such as those required for energy-sharing meta-scintillators or Purcell-enhanced layered scintillators, are well-known for decades and are being constantly improved and utilize layers deposition from liquid or vapor phases using chemical reactions or various sputtering techniques; , therefore, they are not reviewed here. Rather thick layers of materials are needed to detect radiation of practically important energies, e.g., 2–3 mm thick layers of an appropriate scintillator for ∼60–150 keV γ-quanta (CT) and at least 10–20 mm thick for 511 keV γ-quanta (PET), , Therefore, a high growth rate is a key consideration while selecting a technique capable of providing reasonable production costs.…”

“…It is noteworthy to understand that a single scintillator cannot be ideal for all the applications, and the reader may refer to the following literature for comprehensive information on scintillator requirements for certain applications. ,,,, Here we briefly name some applications that could benefit from the above-mentioned enhancements; e.g., PET was mentioned above as an application that could benefit from enhanced light output, energy resolution, and timing. These parameters are relevant for other modalities of medical imaging as well; e.g., very fast scintillators with high light output may make way to time-of-flight measurements in CT and X-ray radiography, allowing significantly reduced dose load on a patient. , High-energy physics uses high-volume scintillator detectors for calorimetry (particle energy measurement); the sampling calorimeter concept, based on a combination of tiles of fibers of different materials in one detector (shashlik or spaghetti type, correspondingly), presents a prefiguration of energy sharing metamaterials. , At the same time, detectors dedicated to measuring the precise timing of the studied events, particle tracking, or beam characterization utilize thin sensitive layers, so it is the available niche for nanophotonically enhanced materials, and both enhanced timing and light output would play positive roles in these applications. ,, Other rapidly developing applications such as X-ray microtomography and microscopy, including synchrotron-based imaging, demand good spatial resolution, which can be achieved by a photonic approach .…”

“…Scintillation detectors are the core of radiation detection applications in medical imaging, e.g., X-ray radiography, Computed Tomography (CT), Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT), and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanners, homeland security, such as luggage and cargo screening at transport hubs, in nondestructive diagnostics and nuclear safety monitoring, as detectors for high energy physics used in colliders, as well as several other applications. 1 Scintillation involves a sequence of processes of charge carrier generation, thermalization, transfer, and relaxation via luminescence. The evolution of photonic scintillators has been significant, transitioning from early 20th-century polycrystalline ZnS:Ag and CaWO 4 materials, which remain in use today, to an extensive array of powder, ceramic, single crystalline, amorphous, and composite materials.…”

“…Scintillation detectors are the core of radiation detection applications in medical imaging, e.g., X-ray radiography, Computed Tomography (CT), Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT), and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanners, homeland security, such as luggage and cargo screening at transport hubs, in nondestructive diagnostics and nuclear safety monitoring, as detectors for high energy physics used in colliders, as well as several other applications. 1 …”