Performance of lead iodide nuclear radiation detectors with the introduction of rare earth elements

Abstract

Lead iodide has been recognized as a promising material for room temperature radiation detectors. It has a wide band-gap (∼ 2.3 eV), high atomic numbers (82, 53) and it is environmentally very stable compared to mercuric iodide. Electrical and optical properties of lead iodide grown crystals purified under the influence of selected rare earth elements have been investigated. Photo-luminescence and capacitance-voltage measurements have been performed using different rare earth elements.

Effect of changing substrate temperature of PbI2 thin films deposited by spray technique on the structural ,optical and electrical properties

“…Lead iodide PbI 2 nuclear radiation detectors are excellent candidates for many application which require portability and low price. They are suitable to be used for high out door temperature as detector for X and ४ ray radiation .High atomic number materials such as lead iodide and mercuric iodide are very sensitive to gamma and x-ray,compard to low atomic number materials such as silicon and germanium [2]. PbI 2 has convenient physical properties for this task , like atomic number of its elements ( Pb) =82 , I=53, density (6.2 g/cm 3 ) , mass absorption coefficient (only 7 µm of lead iodide are sufficient for 90% absorption of 6 keV radiation and 1560µm for 120 k eV radiation),band gap and phase diagram.…”

Lead Iodide Crystals as Input Material for Radiation Detectors

“…Room temperature operated detectors have found many applications such as image devices, preventing nuclear matter smuggling and scientific instruments. The lead iodide and mercuric iodide are the leading candidates because of wide band gap that makes high resistivity, large mass density and high atomic number that provides a high stopping power [1]. Out of these the lead iodide has an edge over mercuric iodide because growing single crystals of lead iodide are simpler as compared to mercuric iodide as lead iodide has lower vapour pressure than mercuric iodide and better chemical stability.…”