Congruent Glass Composite Scintillator for Efficient High-Energy Ray Detection.

Abstract

The scintillator is the most crucial component in the high-energy ray detection system. The available scintillators suffer from the insurmountable drawbacks including poor shaping ability for single crystal and ceramic and low efficiency for glass. Here, a glass composite scintillator is proposed from a congruent crystallization system which possesses both excellent processability and high scintillating yield. It can be fabricated into diverse shapes and sizes including the bulk and tiny fiber. Benefitting from the unique compositing combination with a high crystallization ratio, the glass composite exhibits a giant scintillating light yield of ≈26,000 photons per MeV. The practical application for X-ray imaging is demonstrated and a high spatial resolution of 12 l p mm^-1 is achieved. Furthermore, the fiber derived detector is built and the remote and micro-area detection is realized. These findings not only represent a novel design concept for the development of glass composite but also suggest a great step for expanding the scope of scintillators.