Influence of rare earth holmium on the properties of lead iodide

Lead iodide PbI2 is a promising material for X-ray and γ detector applications. Two methods of preparation of PbI2 are compared, precipitation and direct synthesis. The direct synthesis is a new method that brings good results. As an example of rare earth elements admixture Holmium has been used in order to investigate their influence on the properties of the resulting lead iodide crystals. Properties of the resulting material are characterized by performing electrical resistivity measurements and low temperature photoluminescence investigations. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)