Transparent BaCl_2:Eu~(2+) glass-ceramic scintillator

摘要

Scintillators are the backbone of high-energy radiation detection devices. Most scintillators are based on inorganic crystals that have applications in medical radiography, nuclear medicine, security inspection, dosimetry, and high-energy physics. In this paper, we present a new type of scintillator that is based on glass ceramics (composites of glasses and crystals). These scintillators are made from Eu~(2+)-activated fluorozirconate glasses that are co-doped with Ba~(2+), La~(3+), Al~(3+), Na~+, and Cl~-. Subsequent heat treatment of the glasses forms BaCl_2 nano-crystals (10-20 nm in size) that are embedded in the glass matrix. The resulting scintillators are transparent, efficient, inexpensive to fabricate, and easy to scale up. The physical structure and x-ray imaging performance of these glass-ceramic scintillators are presented, and an application of these materials to micro-computed tomography is demonstrated. Our study suggests that these glass-ceramic scintillators have high potential for medical x-ray imaging.