This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 8852 including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction, and Conference Committee listing.

Time-encoded imaging (TEI) is a new approach to directional detection of energetic radiation that produces images by inducing a time-dependent modulation of detected particles. TEI-based detectors use single-scatter events and have a low channel count, reducing complexity and cost while maintaining high efficiency with respect to other radiation imaging techniques such as double-scatter or coded aperture imaging. The scalability of TEI systems makes them a very promising detector class for weak source detection. Extension of the technique to high-resolution imaging is also under study. With a prototype time-encoding detector, we demonstrated detection of a neutron source at 60 m with neutron output equivalent to an IAEA significant quantity of WGPu. We have since designed and built a full-scale detector based on the time-encoding concept. We will present results from characterization of very large liquid scintillator cells, including pulse shape discrimination, as well as from studies of the detector system performance in weak source detection scenarios.

LiCaAlF₆ (LiCAF) is a promising inorganic neutron scintillator material. Here, we report the electronic structure as well as properties of the small hole polaron, F center, and activators (e.g., Ce) in LiCAF based on first-principles calculations. These results are discussed in the context of carrier transport and trapping in LiCAF. We also discuss the approach to reduce reabsorption of Ce emission by the F centers, thereby suppressing afterglow in LiCAF:Ce after exposure to X- or gamma-ray.

We report our recent progress on wide bandgap ternary halide compounds CsPbBr₃ and CsPbCl₃ for room temperature x-ray and gamma-ray detectors. Their bandgaps are measured to be 2.24 eV and 2.86 eV, respectively. The measured mobility-lifetime products of CsPbBr₃ are 1.7×10^-3, 1.3×10^-3 cm2/V, for electron and hole carriers, respectively, comparable to those of CdTe. We measured the room temperature spectral response of CsPbBr₃ sample to Ag x-ray radiation. It has a well-resolved spectral response to the 22.4 keV K_α radiation peak and detector efficiency comparable to that of CdZnTe detector at 295 K.

An active X-ray spectrometer (AXS) is now being developed as a payload candidate for the rover on SELENE-2, the next Japanese lunar exploration mission. The AXS will determine the chemical compositions of lunar rocks and regolith around the landing site. The surface of lunar rock samples will be ground using a rock abrasion tool. Thus, fundamental studies on the X-ray fluorescence analysis for lunar rocks and regolith are required to design and develop the AXS. In this study, we have investigated the X-ray fluorescence analysis in order to evaluate the effects of surface roughness of samples and the angle of incident and emergent X-rays. It was found that the fluorescent X-ray yield for low energy X-rays, i.e. the light elements, decreases at rough surface samples. This effect of surface roughness becomes small for smooth surface samples. It was also found that the fluorescent X-ray yield depends on the incident angle, which is attributed to the fact that the X-ray fluorescence occurs closer to the sample surface at larger incident angles. Since the emergent X-rays are affected by the detection geometry and surface roughness, the incident angle effect also depends on the above conditions.

In the present work high-resolution alpha particle detectors have been fabricated on high quality 20 μm thick n-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layers. Schottky barrier detectors have been fabricated by depositing 10 nm thick nickel contacts on the Si face of the epilayers. The detectors were characterized using current-voltage (I-V), capacitance-voltage (CV), alpha spectroscopic measurements, and deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). I-V measurements revealed a barrier height of ~1.6 eV, diode ideality factor of 1.09, and leakage current of the order of 14 pA at an operating bias of 110 V. C-V measurements revealed low effective doping concentrations of 3.1 × 10¹⁴ cm^-3 in the epilayers. A micropipe density lower than 1 cm^-2 was evaluated in the epilayers. Pulse-height spectroscopy exhibited energy resolution as high as 0.37 % for 5.48 MeV alpha particles with a detector active area of 11 mm². A diffusion length of ~13.2 μm for holes has been determined in these detectors following a calculation based on a drift-diffusion model. Detailed electronic noise analysis in terms of equivalent noise charge (ENC) was carried out to study the effect of various noise components that contribute to the total electronic noise in the detection system. The noise analysis revealed that the white series noise due to the detector capacitance has substantial effect on the detector’s overall performance. DLTS measurements have revealed the presence of at least four majority (electron) carrier trap levels that can act as recombination/generation or trapping centers.

Device-grade TlBr was subjected to various chemical treatments used in room temperature radiation detector fabrication to determine the resulting surface composition and electronic structure. Samples of as polished TlBr were treated separately with 2%Br:MeOH, 10%HF, 10%HCl and 96%SOCl₂ solutions. High-resolution photoemission measurements on the valence band electronic structure and Tl 4f, Br 3d, Cl 2p and S 2p core lines were used to evaluate surface chemistry. Results suggest anion substitution at the surface with subsequent shallow heterojunction formation. Surface chemistry and valence band electronic structure were further correlated with the goal of optimizing the long-term stability and radiation response.

Noise Spectroscopy, a.k.a. Z-determination by Statistical Count-rate ANalysis (Z-SCAN), is a statistical technique to determine a quantity called the “noise figure” from digitized waveforms of pulses of transmitted x-rays in cargo inspection systems. Depending only on quantities related to the x-ray energies, it measures a characteristic of the transmitted x-ray spectrum, which depends on the atomic number, Z, of the material penetrated. The noise figure can thus be used for material separation. In an 80-detector prototype, scintillators are used with large-area photodiodes biased at 80V and digitized using 50-MSPS 12-bit ADC boards. We present an ultra-compact low-noise preamplifier design, with one high-gain and one low-gain channel per detector for improved dynamic range. To achieve adequate detection sensitivity and spatial resolution each dual-gain preamplifier channel must fit within a 12.7 mm wide circuit board footprint and maintain adequate noise immunity to conducted and radiated interference from adjacent channels. The novel design included iterative SPICE analysis of transient response, dynamic range, frequency response, and noise analysis to optimize the selection and configuration of amplifiers and filter response. We discuss low-noise active and passive components and low-noise techniques for circuit board layout that are essential to achieving the design goals, and how the completed circuit board performed in comparison to the predicted responses.

The National Security Technologies, LLC, Remote Sensing Laboratory has recently used an array of six smallfootprint (1-inch diameter by 3-inch long) cylindrical crystals of thallium-doped sodium iodide scintillators to obtain angular information from discrete gamma ray–emitting point sources. Obtaining angular information in a near-field measurement for a field-deployed gamma sensor is a requirement for radiological emergency work. Three of the sensors sit at the vertices of a 2-inch isosceles triangle, while the other three sit on the circumference of a 3-inchradius circle centered in this triangle. This configuration exploits occlusion of sensors, correlation from Compton scattering within a detector array, and covariance spectroscopy, a spectral coincidence technique. Careful placement and orientation of individual detectors with reference to other detectors in an array can provide improved angular resolution for determining the source position by occlusion mechanism. By evaluating the values of, and the uncertainties in, the photopeak areas, efficiencies, branching ratio, peak area correction factors, and the correlations between these quantities, one can determine the precise activity of a particular radioisotope from a mixture of radioisotopes that have overlapping photopeaks that are ordinarily hard to deconvolve. The spectral coincidence technique, often known as covariance spectroscopy, examines the correlations and fluctuations in data that contain valuable information about radiation sources, transport media, and detection systems. Covariance spectroscopy enhances radionuclide identification techniques, provides directional information, and makes weaker gamma-ray emission—normally undetectable by common spectroscopic analysis—detectable. A series of experimental results using the concept of covariance spectroscopy are presented.

PIXeY (Particle Identification in Xenon at Yale) is a two-phase (liquid/gas) xenon prototype time projection chamber with 3 kg active mass. PIXeY was built to optimize energy resolution and gamma/neutron discrimination, with a number of technological improvements over previous work. Parallel-wire grids, which control the drift and proportionalscintillation fields, are optimized both for light collection efficiency and field uniformity. High quantum efficiency Hamamatsu R8778 PMTs, high-reflectivity Teflon walls, and charge-light anti-correlation techniques are also incorporated. The first run of the detector has concluded, where all systems were tested both using LED calibration methods as well as using sources for calibration and spectral measurements. Ultimately our results were limited by PMT calibration issues, low light collection caused by saturation, and low drift fields constrained by high voltage hardware. The second run of the detector is currently underway with several improved components. The feedthroughs for higher voltages have improved to allow a much higher operating voltage, new PMT bases for more stable operation have been installed, and three new grids with transparencies between 92% and 97% have been added. Once the energy resolution studies have concluded, PIXeY will serve as a platform for future improvements, including multiple optical volumes and single wire readout for R&D on gamma-ray imaging.

Models of nonproportional response in scintillators have highlighted the importance of parameters such as branching ratios, carrier thermalization times, diffusion, kinetic order of quenching, associated rate constants, and radius of the electron track. For example, the fraction ηeh of excitations that are free carriers versus excitons was shown by Payne and coworkers to have strong correlation with the shape of electron energy response curves from Compton-coincidence studies. Rate constants for nonlinear quenching are implicit in almost all models of nonproportionality, and some assumption about track radius must invariably be made if one is to relate linear energy deposition dE/dx to volume-based excitation density n (eh/cm³) in terms of which the rates are defined. Diffusion, affecting time-dependent track radius and thus density of excitations, has been implicated as an important factor in nonlinear light yield. Several groups have recently highlighted diffusion of hot electrons in addition to thermalized carriers and excitons in scintillators. However, experimental determination of many of these parameters in the insulating crystals used as scintillators has seemed difficult. Subpicosecond laser techniques including interband z scan light yield, fluence-dependent decay time, and transient optical absorption are now yielding experimental values for some of the missing rates and ratios needed for modeling scintillator response. First principles calculations and Monte Carlo simulations can fill in additional parameters still unavailable from experiment. As a result, quantitative modeling of scintillator electron energy response from independently determined material parameters is becoming possible on an increasingly firmer data base. This paper describes recent laser experiments, calculations, and numerical modeling of scintillator response.

Photomultiplier tube technology has been the photodetector of choice for the technique of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes since its birth more than 50 years ago. Recently, new types of photosensors are being contemplated for the next generation Cherenkov Telescope Array. It is envisioned that the array will be partly composed of telescopes using a Schwarzschild-Couder two mirror design never built before which has significantly improved optics. The camera of this novel optical design has a small plate scale which enables the use of compact photosensors. We present an extensive and detailed study of the two most promising devices being considered for this telescope design: the silicon photomultiplier and the multi-anode photomultiplier tube. We evaluated their most critical performance characteristics for imaging γ-ray showers, and we present our results in a cohesive manner to clearly evaluate the advantages and disadvantages that both types of device have to offer in the context of GeV-TeV γ-ray astronomy.

Impurity analysis and compositional distribution studies have been conducted on a crystal of LiInSe₂, a compound semiconductor which recently has been shown to respond to ionizing radiation. IR microscopy and laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) revealed the presence of inclusions within the crystal lattice. These precipitates were revealed to be alkali and alkaline earth elemental impurities with non-uniform spatial distribution in the crystal. LIBS compositional maps correlate the presence of these impurities with visual color differences in the crystal as well as a significant shift of the band gap. Further, LIBS revealed variation in the ratio of I-III-VI2 elemental constituents throughout the crystal. Analysis of compositional variation and impurities will aid in discerning optimal synthesis and crystal growth parameters to maximize the mobility-lifetime product and charge collection efficiency in the LiInSe₂ crystal. Preliminary charge trapping calculations have also been conducted with the Monte Carlo N-particle eXtended (MCNPx) package indicating preferential trapping of holes during irradiation with thermal neutrons.

Pixel detectors based on photon counting or single photon processing readout are becoming popular for spectral X-ray imaging. The detector is based on deep submicron electronics with functions to determine the energy of each individual photon in every pixel. The system is virtually noiseless when it comes to the number of the detected photons. However noise and variations in system parameters affect the determination of the photon energy. Several factors affect the energy resolution in the system. In the readout electronics the most important factors are the threshold dispersion, the gain variation and the electronic noise. In the sensor contributions come from charge sharing, variations in the charge collection efficiency, leakage current and the statistical nature of the charge generation, as described by the Fano factor. The MEDIPIX technology offers a powerful tool for investigating these effects since energy spectra can be captured in each pixel. In addition the TIMEPIX chip, when operated in Time over Threshold mode, offers an opportunity to analyze individual photon interactions, thus addressing charge sharing and fluorescence. Effects of charge sharing and the properties of charge summing can be investigated using MEDIPIX3RX. Experiments are performed using both Si and CdTe detectors. In this paper we discuss the various contributions to the spectral noise and how they affect detector response. The statements are supported with experimental data from MEDIPIX-type detectors.

The development of a high purity germanium (HPGe) double sided strip detector prototype for X-ray astronomy is presented. The proposed design will cover the energy domain between 1 and 200 keV, and consists of a 4x4x1cm bulk with contacts on each side orthogonally segmented into 100 strips of 350μm width, with 50μm gap between strips. Both spectrometry and imaging capabilities have been taken into account in the design of the detector: on one hand, the use of germanium guarantees high spectral resolution; on the other hand, finely segmented contacts provide high precision on the position determination in the plane of the detector. In addition, the depth of the interactions can be estimated by looking at the difference of pulse raise time between the anode and the cathode. Pulse shape analysis and advanced algorithms are used for this purpose, obtaining a three-dimension localization of the point of impact of the photons. Furthermore, multiple interactions occurring simultaneously can be located, which makes the detector a suitable instrument for polarization measurements. The detection system relies on the extensive use of digital signal processing, with an early sampling of the signal at the output of the charge amplifier. This paper presents the measurement chain, including the detector itself, the electronic readout system and the signal processing methods that have been developped. The main results of the laboratory tests carried out at this stage are presented, and finally the measured performances of the detector are discussed.

A model of edge-defined film-fed (EFG) crystal growth is developed to study melt growth of cylinders of the scintillator crystal cesium iodide (CsI). This system is characterized by strongly nonlinear interactions of heat transfer, capillarity, and die geometry that give rise to multiple solution states under a single set of operating conditions. A thermal-capillary instability is identified that stems from meniscus sag due to gravity, which causes an inflection point to appear in the meniscus shape. This shape allows two solutions to coexist that correspond to different crystal diameters and gap sizes (axial length of liquid bridge between die and crystal). Also identified is an instability of convective heat transfer characterized by a strong interaction of thermal convection with the geometry of the growth interface.

He-3 tubes are the most popular thermal neutron detectors. They are easy to use, have good sensitivity for neutron detection, and are insensitive to gamma radiation. Due to low stockpiles of the He-3 gas, alternatives are being sought to replace these devices in many applications. One of the possible alternatives to these devices are scintillators incorporating isotopes with high cross-section for neutron capture (e.g. Li-6 or B-10). Cs₂LiYCl₆:Ce (CLYC) is one of the scintillators that recently has been considered for neutron detection. This material offers good detection efficiency (~80%), bright response (70,000 photons/neutron), high gamma ray equivalent energy of the neutron signal (>3MeV), and excellent separation between gamma and neutron radiation with pulse shape discrimination. A He-3 tube alternative based on a CLYC scintillator was constructed using a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) for the optical readout. SiPMs are very compact optical detectors that are an alternative to usually bulky photomultiplier tubes. Constructed detector was characterized for its behavior across a temperature range of -20°C to 50°C.

The near-unity segregation coefficient of Se in a CdTe matrix ensures the compositional homogeneity, both axial- and radial, of the CdTeSe ternary compound, so making it a material of choice for room- temperature radiation detectors. In this study, we grew CdTeSe crystals by the Traveling Heater Method (THM), using Te as the solvent, and characterized the crystals by IR transmission microscopy, white-beam X-ray diffraction topography, and low-temperature photoluminescence. The total average concentration of the secondary phases obtained for the CdTeSe sample was about 7x10⁴ cm^-3 for crystals grown at two different laboratories. The best resistivity registered was 5x10⁹ ohm-cm, and the estimated μτ product for the electrons was 3-4x10^-3 cm²/V.

Applications at synchrotron facilities such as macromolecular crystallography and high energy X-ray diffraction require high resolution imaging detectors with high dynamic range and large surface area. Current systems can be split into two main categories: hybrid pixel detectors and scintillator-coupled Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs). Whilst both have limitations, CCD-based systems (coupled to fibre-optics to increase imaging area) are often used in these applications due to their small pixels and the high resolution. Electron-Multiplication CCDs (EM-CCDs) are able to suppress the readout noise associated with increased readout speed offering a low noise, high speed detector solution. A previous pilot study using a small-area (8 mm × 8 mm) scintillator-coupled EM-CCD found that through high frame-rates, low noise and novel uses of photon-counting, resolution could be improved from over 80 μm to 25 μm at 2 fps. To further improve this detector system, high speed readout electronics can be used alongside a fibre-optic taper and EM-CCD to create a “best of both worlds” solution consisting of the high resolution of a CCD, along with the low noise, high speed (high dynamic range) and large effective area of pixel detectors. This paper details the developments in the study and discusses the latest results and their implication on the system design.

A novel, light-weight, hand-held gamma-ray detector with directional sensitivity is being designed. The detector uses a set of multiple rings around two cylindrical surfaces, which provides precise location of two interaction points on two concentric cylindrical planes, wherefrom the source location can be traced back by back projection and/or Compton imaging technique. The detectors are 2.0 × 2.0 mm europium-doped strontium iodide (SrI₂:Eu²⁺) crystals, whose light output has been measured to exceed 120,000 photons/MeV, making it one of the brightest scintillators in existence. The crystal’s energy resolution, less than 3% at 662 keV, is also excellent, and the response is highly linear over a wide range of gamma-ray energies. The emission of SrI₂:Eu²⁺ is well matched to both photo-multiplier tubes and blue-enhanced silicon photodiodes. The solid-state photomultipliers used in this design (each 2.0 × 2.0 mm) are arrays of active pixel sensors (avalanche photodiodes driven beyond their breakdown voltage in reverse bias); each pixel acts as a binary photon detector, and their summed output is an analog representation of the total photon energy, while the individual pixel accurately defines the point of interaction. A simple back-projection algorithm involving cone-surface mapping is being modeled. The back projection for an event cone is a conical surface defining the possible location of the source. The cone axis is the straight line passing through the first and second interaction points.

Gigahertz (GHz) imaging technology will be needed at high-luminosity X-ray and charged particle sources. It is plausible to combine fast scintillators with the latest picosecond detectors and GHz electronics for multi-frame hard Xray imaging and achieve an inter-frame time of less than 10 ns. The time responses and light yield of LYSO, LaBr₃, BaF₂ and ZnO are measured using an MCP-PMT detector. Zinc Oxide (ZnO) is an attractive material for fast hard X-ray imaging based on GEANT4 simulations and previous studies, but the measured light yield from the samples is much lower than expected.

Considerable variations in the charge-carrier transport parameters necessitate individual calibration of CdZnTe gammaray detectors for many applications. We carried out a set of experiments wherein we determined that the main region of interest for the energy dependence of CdZnTe-detectors’ sensitivity lay in the gamma-quantum energy range of 0.03- to 3-MeV. This finding was satisfactorily verified and reconstructed from our measurements of pulse-height distributions using ²⁴¹Am-, ¹³⁷Cs-, and 60Co-sources. We discuss our comparison of the quality-of-fit of the approximation formulae with our detailed calculations of the sensitivity of CdZnTe detectors via a Monte-Carlo method.

Quantitative assessments of the possibility to improve the energy resolution of detectors based on CdTe crystals with two Ohmic contacts by varying the crystal thickness, applied voltage, temperature and lifetimes of charge carriers are presented. It is shown that a super-linear increase in the conductivity of Pt/CdTe/Pt detectors at larger voltages is caused by the space charge limited current, and the excess component over the linearly approximated current is virtually temperature independent. Due to such behavior of the excess current, cooling of the detector does not give the desired result. The calculations show that the effect of charge carrier recombination at the crystal surfaces can be ignored when V < 9-10 V, while trapping carriers in the crystal bulk for thick CdTe detectors can significantly degrade the charge collection efficiency. Thinning the crystal and lowering the applied voltage to maintain the same current value leads to considerable improving of the charge collection efficiency. In the case of the detector thickness of 0.25 mm, the collection efficiency is higher than 97-98% in the photon energy range of 10-1000 keV. The collection efficiency could exceed 99% if to perfect the crystal growth technology and thereby increase the charge carrier lifetime by one order of magnitude as compared to that in the currently used CdTe crystals (2-3 μs)

Peculiarities of Cd_0.95-xMn_xZn_0.05Te (x=0.05-0.25) alloys melting and crystallization kinetics were investigated by the differential thermal analysis at various heating/cooling rates. We synthesized Cd_0.95-xMn_xZn_0.05Te alloys from elemental materials in a double-zone furnace. Their melting-crystallization rate was 5- and 10-K/min with a melt-dwell time of 1-, 10-, 20-, and 30-minutes. We found that the melting temperature, T_m, declined with increasing “x”, while the crystallization temperature, T_s, rose with increasing “x”. We detailed the dependencies of the crystallization rate versus the melt’s crystallization temperature. In most cases, the dependencies dropped with the rise of the crystallization temperature, while the crystallization temperature fell with decreasing melt-dwell time.

In the present work we studied an influence of different types of surface etching and surface passivation of high resistivity CdZnTe-based semiconductor detector material. The aim was to find the optimal conditions to improve the properties of metal-semiconductor contact. The main effort was to reduce the leakage current and thus get better X-ray and gamma-ray spectrum, i.e. to create a detector operating at room temperature based on this semiconductor material with sufficient energy resolution and the maximum charge collection efficiency. Individual surface treatments were characterized by I-V characteristics, spectral analysis and by determination of the profile of the internal electric field.

In this paper, we have investigated some structural properties, Raman spectra of Zn_1-xMn_xT_e films deposited by the closed space vacuum sublimation under different growth conditions. The obtained results of the Raman spectroscopy and XRD analysis show single phase composition of the samples. The presence of phonon replicas in the Raman spectra of the films indicates their high structural quality. The manganese content (about 7 %) in the layers was determined according to shifting the relative peaks positions.

We explored the influence of Cd(Zn)Te detectors on the detector’s dark current for different methods of contact formation and passivation of the side surfaces. Our findings suggest that the dark current of a homogeneous detector with ohmic contacts is limited by the detector’s resistivity and the operating voltage. Detectors with a rectifying barrier have a markedly lower dark current at the same voltage and contact geometry than those without such a barrier, and their sides have a larger space charge than those of untreated ones. The major factor lowering the detector’s dark current is the formation of a rectifying barrier that occurs while creating contacts to the detector; the role of passivation of the lateral surface in this case is minimal. However, passivation plays the main role in the formation of leakage current in homogeneous detectors with ohmic contacts, where the uniformity of the electric field is important inside the detector, or in other studies used for determining the bulk resistivity of the detector material. We formed a surface-barrier structure on a semi-insulating Cr-Cd(Zn)Te-Cr crystal (n-type) with a resistivity of 10¹⁰ Ohm-cm at room temperature. The measured leakage current of this detector was less than 3 nA at 1500 V. We discuss our findings on this detector’s structural properties.

Presently, most X-ray security systems for luggage inspection use dual-energy detector. A drawback of this approach is that overlap in energy sensitivity of the low- and high-energy detectors creates the potential for ambiguity and inaccuracy. We have made an attempt to improve the identification quality of organic materials using a three-energy receiving–detecting circuit. New model calculations and several new algorithms for the detection of organic and nonorganic materials under multi-energy radiography were proposed, developed and experimentally verified. The purpose of the present work is study of the possibility of separation between substances with small effective atomic numbers for increasing the detection probability of explosives. Using a spectrum of the X-ray tube with a tungsten anode, evaluation has been carried out of the signal ratio from high-energy detector, medium-energy detector and low-energy detectors. Using differential energy sensitivity of detectors of different thickness, varying X-ray source anode voltages and filter for each array, special software it is possible to reconstruct images of the inspected object at the different energy scales. It was shown that using standard X-ray beams and specially-chosen scintillator types with different thicknesses, we can achieve accuracy in determination of Zeff up to 95%, that significantly better as compared with systems based on conventional X-ray inspection. Using two-coordinate identification palette, one can discern between imitators of explosives even when the difference in their Zeff values is small (from 7.08 to 8.07).

In the last decade, the interest in scintillating fiber optics for ionizing radiation monitoring is constantly increasing. Among the fields of possible applications of these sensors, radiation therapy represents a driving force for the research and development of new devices. In fact, the small dimensions of fiber optics based detectors, together with their realtime response, make these systems extremely promising both in quality assurance measurements of intensity modulated radiotherapy beams, and in in-vivo dosimetry. On the other hand, two specific aspects might represent limiting factors: (i) the “stem effect”, that is the spurious luminescence originating as a consequence of the irradiation of the light guide, and (ii) the “memory effect”, that is the radioluminescence sensitivity increase during prolonged exposition to ionizing radiation, typical of many scintillating materials. These two issues, representing the main challenges to face for the effective use of scintillating fiber as dosimeters in radiotherapy, were studied considering amorphous silica matrices prepared by sol-gel method and doped with europium. The origin of the stem effect was investigated by means of spectral measurements of the doped fibers irradiated with Xrays and electrons of different energies, field sizes and orientations. New approaches for removing the stem effect on the basis of the radioluminescent spectral analysis are presented and discussed. Furthermore, the causes and phenomenology of the memory effect are described, considering also the effect of dose accumulation with different dose rates and energies of ionizing radiation.

Thermal neutron detectors in planar configuration were fabricated from B₂Se₃ (Boron Selenide) crystals grown at RMD Inc. All fabricated semiconductor devices were characterized for the current-voltage (I-V) characteristic and neutron counting measurement. In this study, the resistivity of crystals is reported and the collected pulse height spectra are presented for devices irradiated with the ²⁴¹AmBe neutron source. Long-term stability of the B₂Se₃ devices for neutron detection under continuous bias and without being under continuous bias was investigated and the results are reported. The B₂Se₃ devices showed response to thermal neutrons of the 2⁴¹AmBe source.

Synthesized amorphous selenium (a-Se) alloy materials have been characterized for room temperature high-energy nuclear radiation detector and x-ray detection applications. The alloy composition has been optimized to ensure good charge transport properties and detector performance. The synthesis of a-Se (As, Cl) alloys has been carried out by thoroughly mixing zone-refined (ZR) Se (~7N) with previously synthesized a-Se(As) and a-Se(Cl) master alloys (MS). The synthesized alloys have been characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), glow discharge mass spectroscopy (GDMS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics measurements. Raman spectroscopy demonstrated that the a-Se(As) master alloy samples were in metastable monoclinic Se₈ states, in which seven vibrational modes are located at 40(41), 59(60), 77, 110, 133, 227(228) and 251(252) cm^-1. However, a-Se(Cl) master alloy samples are in stable form of trigonal structure of Se₈ ring, in which two modes at 142 and 234 cm^-1 were found. Both Raman and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) exhibited that a small amount of tellurium (Te) existed in a-Se (As, Cl) master alloy samples. DSC measurements showed that a-Se (Cl) MS and a-Se (As) MS samples have one melting point, located at ~219.6°C, whereas a-Se-As (0.52%)-Cl and Se- As(10.2%)-Cl(60 ppm) both possess two melting points, located at 221 and 220.3°C respectively. The a-Se alloy plate detectors have been fabricated and tested and the results showed high dark resistivity (1012 - 1013 Ω-cm) with good charge transport properties and cost-effective large-area scalability.

Alkaline-earth halides can be made into bright scintillators if purity is maintained during synthesis and growth. In order to investigate precursor purity, beaded halide precursors were heated under vacuum and evolved gas was assessed by residual gas spectroscopy. These precursors included cesium chloride, lithium chloride, yttrium chloride, cerium chloride, strontium iodide, europium iodide, barium bromide, and europium bromide. Water and CO₂ desorption, sulfur release, argon release, and halide dissociation was observed in samples. Triply-oxidized precursors showed multiple paths to decomposition. The data inform approaches toward purification and growth.