Application of in-situ ion irradiation TEM and 4D tomography to advanced scintillator materials

摘要

Scintillating nanomaterials are being investigated as replacements for fragile, difficult to synthesize single crystalradiation detectors, but greater insight into their structural stability when exposed to extreme environments is needed todetermine long-term performance. An initial study using high-Z cadmium tungstate (CdWO4) nanorods and an in-situion irradiation transmission electron microscope (I3TEM) was performed to determine the feasibility of these extremeenvironment experiments. The I3TEM presents a unique capability that permits the real time characterization ofnanostructures exposed to various types of ion irradiation. In this work, we investigated the structural evolution ofCdWO4 nanorods exposed to 50 nA of 3 MeV copper (3+) ions. During the first several minutes of exposure, thenanorods underwent significant structural evolution. This appears to occur in two steps where the nanorods are firstsegmented into smaller sections followed by the sintering of adjacent particles into larger nanostructures. An additionalstudy combined in-situ ion irradiation with electron tomography to record tilt series after each irradiation dose; whichwere then processed into 3D reconstructions to show radiation damage to the material over time. Analyses to understandthe mechanisms and structure-property relationships involved are ongoing.© (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.