Enhancing Large-Area Scintillator Detection with Photonic Crystal Cavities

Abstract

Scintillators are materials that emit visible photons when bombarded by high-energy particles (X-ray, γ-ray, electrons, neutrinos, etc.) and are crucial for applications, including X-ray imaging and high-energy particle detection. Here, we show that one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystal (PhC) cavities, added externally to scintillator materials, can be used to tailor the intrinsic emission spectrum of scintillators via the Purcell effect. The emission spectral peaks can be shifted, narrowed, or split, improving the overlap between the scintillator emission spectrum and the quantum efficiency (QE) spectrum of the photodetector. As a result, the overall photodetector signal can be enhanced by over 200%. The use of external PhC cavities especially benefits thick and large-area scintillators, which are needed to stop particles with ultrahigh energy, as in large-area neutrino detectors. Our findings should pave the way to greater versatility and efficiency in the design of scintillators for applications, including X-ray imaging and positron emission tomography.

Development and challenges in perovskite scintillators for high-resolution imaging and timing applications

“…A theoretical work of Kurman et al studied one-dimensional photonic crystals comprising cerium-doped lutetium yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO:Ce) alternating with air (Fig. 3a) 70 , leveraging Purcell effect that commonly used in lasers and single photon sources 71 to enhance the scintillator yield and decrease the lifetime 72 . The photonic crystal structure was shown not only to enable a fivefold enhancement of detectable photons with a faster emission rate (Fig.…”

Are Inorganic Lead Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals Promising Scintillators?

“…Zaffalon et al recently claimed that postfluorinated CsPbBr 3 NCs exhibit extreme γ-ray radiation hardness of as high as 1 MGy dose. 13 The source of the γ-rays is 60 Co, with a dose rate of 3.05 kGy h −1 . In spite of the difference between their LYs resulting from surface defects, both initial and post-treated CsPbBr 3 NCs showed exceptional radiation hardness in their work.…”

“…Al foil encapsulation can further reduce the light loss due to the high reflectivity and prevent the leakage of toxic elements. Besides, an appropriate photonic crystal film or microlens arrays at the interface between scintillator and TFT may control the direction of light and contribute to enhanced gray values. , Additional FDTD design can better guide experimental results for maximum light extraction. Considering the recent fast progress in metal halide perovskite-based photodiodes with much higher responsivity and detectivity, all-perovskite X-ray detectors combined with PNC scintillators and perovskite photodetectors are more favorable.…”

Advances in Design of High‐Performance Heterostructured Scintillators for Time‐of‐Flight Positron Emission Tomography

“…While experimental assessments of the impact are currently done in various laboratories, engineering solutions (i.e., photonic structures) allowing better control of light transport and extraction are also being developed in parallel (i.e., refs. [25,26]). It is expected that these approaches should help mitigate the overall degradation of the heterostructure light yield.…”