Patent attributes
The present invention provides a new scintillator, cerium bromide (CeBr3), for gamma ray spectroscopy. Crystals of this scintillator have been grown using the Bridgman process. In CeBr3, Ce3+ is an intrinsic constituent as well as a luminescence center for the scintillation process. The crystals have high light output (˜68,000 photons/MeV) and fast decay constant (˜17 ns). Furthermore, it shows excellent energy resolution for γ-ray detection. For example, energy resolution of <4% (FWHM) has been achieved using this scintillator for 662 keV photons (137Cs source) at room temperature. High timing resolution (<200 ps-FWHM) has been recorded with CeBr3-PMT and BaF2-PMT detectors operating in coincidence using 511 keV positron annihilation γ-ray pairs.
