1. Fluoride Nanoscintillators.
- Author
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Jacobsohn, Luiz G., Sprinkle, Kevin B., Roberts, Steven A., Kucera, Courtney J., James, Tiffany L., Yukihara, Eduardo G., DeVol, Timothy A., and Ballato, John
- Subjects
FLUORIDES ,NANOPARTICLES ,SCINTILLATION spectrometry ,X-ray diffraction ,TRANSMISSION electron microscopy - Abstract
A preliminary investigation of the scintillation response of rare earth-doped fluoride nanoparticles is reported. Nanoparticles of CaF
2 : Eu, BaF2 : Ce, and LaF3 : Eu were produced by precipitation methods using ammonium di-n-octadecyldithiophosphate (ADDP) as a ligand that controls growth and lessens agglomeration. The structure and morphology were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, while the scintillation properties of the nanoparticles were determined by means of X-ray and241 Am irradiation. The unique aspect of scintillation of nanoparticles is related to the migration of carriers in the nanoscintillator. Our results showed that even nanoparticles as small as ~4nm in size effectively scintillate, despite the diffusion length of e-h pairs being considerably larger than the nanoparticles themselves, and suggest that nanoparticles can be used for radiation detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2011
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