@inproceedings{2d054d40e34341638317c4b06005a237,
title = "Advances in the growth of alkaline-earth halide single crystals for scintillator detectors",
abstract = "Alkaline-earth scintillators such as strontium iodide and other alkaline-earth halides activated with divalent europium represent some of the most efficient and highest energy resolution scintillators for use as gamma-ray detectors in a wide range of applications. These applications include the areas of nuclear nonproliferation, homeland security, the detection of undeclared nuclear material, nuclear physics and materials science, medical diagnostics, space physics, high energy physics, and radiation monitoring systems for first responders, police, and fire/rescue personnel. Recent advances in the growth of large single crystals of these scintillator materials hold the promise of higher crystal yields and significantly lower detector production costs. In the present work, we describe new processing protocols that, when combined with our molten salt filtration methods, have led to advances in achieving a significant reduction of cracking effects during the growth of single crystals of SrI2:Eu2+. In particular, we have found that extended pumping on the molten crystalgrowth charge under vacuum for time periods extending up to 48 hours is generally beneficial in compensating for variations in the alkaline-earth halide purity and stoichiometry of the materials as initially supplied by commercial sources. These melt-pumping and processing techniques are now being applied to the purification of CaI2:Eu2+ and some mixed-anion europium-doped alkaline-earth halides prior to single-crystal growth by means of the vertical Bridgman technique. The results of initial studies of the effects of aliovalent doping of SrI2:Eu2+ on the scintillation characteristics of this material are also described.",
keywords = "Energy resolution, Gamma ray detection, Scintillators, Single crystal growth",
author = "Boatner, {L. A.} and Ramey, {J. O.} and Kolopus, {J. A.} and Neal, {J. S.} and Cherepy, {N. J.} and Payne, {S. A.} and Beck, {P. R.} and A. Burger and E. Rowe and P. Bhattacharya",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2014 SPIE.; Hard X-Ray, Gamma-Ray, and Neutron Detector Physics XVI ; Conference date: 18-08-2014 Through 20-08-2014",
year = "2014",
doi = "10.1117/12.2063382",
language = "English",
series = "Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering",
publisher = "SPIE",
editor = "Larry Franks and James, {Ralph B.} and Michael Fiederle and Arnold Burger",
booktitle = "Hard X-Ray, Gamma-Ray, and Neutron Detector Physics XVI",
}