Scintillation phosphors

Rare earth silicates exhibit potential applications as stable luminescent materials for phosphors, scintillators, and detectors. Silica and silicon substrates are frequently used for thin films fabrication, and their nanostructures including monodisperse sphere, NWs are also reliable templates and substrates. However, the composition, structure, and phase of rare earth silicates are rather complex, for example, there are many phases like silicate R2SiOs, disilicate R2Si207 (A-type, tetragonal), hexagonal Rx(Si04)602 oxyapatite, etc. The controlled synthesis of single-phase rare earth silicate nanomateriais can only be reached with precisely controlled experimental conditions. A number of heat treatment based routes, such as solid state reaction of rare earth oxides with silica/silicon substrate, sol-gel methods, and combustion method, as well as physical routes like pulsed laser ablation, have been applied to prepare various rare earth silicate powders and films. The optical properties of rare earth silicate nanocrystalline films and powders have been studied. 

Luminescent solid-state materials comprised of insulating host lattices (normally oxides, fluorides, nitrides, and oxy-nitrides) activated by rare-earth and transition-metal ions continue to be an active area of research due to their application as phosphors, scintillators, and functional materials. 

For example, one may use a microchannel plate coupled to a phosphor scintillator that transforms the amplified charge image into light that can be detected by a CCD or CID, as proposed long ago for mass spectrometry in different variations... 

In all this early work, the x-ray beam impinged upon a phosphor powder on the tube envelope. Detectors of this general kind will be called phosphor-photoelectric detectors to distinguish them from modern scintillation counters (2.11), also photoelectric, in which the light is often generated in a single crystal. The name phosphor-photoelectric detector/ though necessary, is clumsy and not entirely satisfactory. 

In the phosphor-photoelectric detector used as just described, the x-ray quanta strike the phosphor at a rate so great that the quanta of visible light are never resolved they are integrated into a beam of visible light the intensity of which is measured by the multiplier phototube. In the scintillation counters usual in analytical chemistry, on the other hand, individual x-ray quanta can be absorbed by a single crystal highly transparent to light (for example, an alkali halide crystal with thallium as activator), and the resultant visible scintillations can produce an output pulse of electrons from the multiplier phototube. The pulses can be counted as were the pulses-from the proportional counter. 

A scintillation counter makes use of the fact that phosphors—phosphorescent substances such as sodium iodide and zinc sulfide (see Section 15.14)—give a flash of light—a scintillation—when exposed to radiation. The counter also contains a photomultiplier tube, which converts light into an electrical signal. The intensity of the radiation is determined from the strength of the electronic signal. 

KL-HDEHP = 50% di(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid, 60-100 mesh resin PERALS = Photon/electron rejecting alpha liquid scintillation TNOA = tri-n-octylamine TRU = transuranic... 

Counter, Scintillation—The combination of phosphor, photomultiplier tube, and associated circuits for counting light emissions produced in the phosphors by ionizing radiation. Scintillation counters generally are more sensitive than GM counters for gamma radiation. 

The suppression and recovery of protein synthesis from DTT treatment (without cycloheximide treatment) can be monitored via metabolic pulse radiolabeling of cell cultures using [35S]-methionine and subsequent determination of radiolabeled protein content either by SDS-PAGE/ phosphor-imager analysis or liquid scintillation of tricholoroacetic acid insoluble material (Stephens et al., 2005). 

The scintillation counter is a solid state radiation detector which uses a scintillation crystal (phosphor) to detect radiation and produce light pulses. Figure 24 is important in the explanation of scintillation counter operation. 

Scintillation counters are constructed by coupling a suitable scintillation phosphor to a light-sensitive photomultiplier tube. Figure 25 illustrates an example of a scintillation counter using a thallium-activated sodium iodide crystal. 

There are three classes of solid state scintillation phosphors organic crystals, inorganic crystals, and plastic phosphors. 

Organic scintillation phosphors include naphthalene, stilbene, and anthracene. The decay time of this type of phosphor is approximately 10 nanoseconds. This type of crystal is frequently used in the detection of beta particles. 

Plastic phosphors are made by adding scintillation chemicals to a plastic matrix. The decay constant is the shortest of the three phosphor types, approaching 1 or 2 nanoseconds. The plastic has a high hydrogen content therefore, it is useful for fast neutron detectors. 

A schematic cross-section of one type of photomultiplier tube is shown in Figure 26. The photomultiplier is a vacuum tube with a glass envelope containing a photocathode and a series of electrodes called dynodes. Light from a scintillation phosphor liberates electrons from the photocathode by the photoelectric effect. These electrons are not of sufficient number or energy to be detected reliably by conventional electronics. However, in the photomultiplier tube, they are attracted by a voltage drop of about 50 volts to the nearest dynode. 

A radioactivity detector is used to measure radioactivity in the HPLC eluent, using a flow cell. The detection principle is based on liquid scintillation technology to detect phosphors caused by radiation, though a solid-state scintillator is often used around the flow cell [17,31]. This detector is very specific and can be extremely sensitive. It is often used for conducting experiments using tritium or C-14 radiolabeled compounds in toxicological, metabolic, or degradation studies. 

Equipment PCR machine, scintillation counter, tabletop centrifuge, temperature-controlled water baths, equipment for horizontal and vertical electrophoresis, UV-illuminator, phosphor imager, automatic DNA sequencer, vacuum dot-blot manifold (Schleicher and Schuell). PCR 0.5 ml hot-start mbes, aerosol resistant pipette rips, autoclaved Eppendorf tubes (all from Fischer Scientific, Brightwaters, NY) and glassware, diethyl pyrocarbonate (DEPC, Sigma)-treated solutions. 

The cadmium chalcogenide semiconductors (qv) have found numerous applications ranging from rectifiers to photoconductive detectors in smoke alarms. Many Cd compounds, eg, sulfide, tungstate, selenide, telluride, and oxide, are used as phosphors in luminescent screens and scintillation counters. Glass colored with cadmium sulfoselenides is used as a color filter in spectroscopy and has recendy attracted attention as a third-order, nonlinear optical switching material (see NONLINEAR OPTICAL MATERIALS). Dialkylcadmium compounds are polymerization catalysts for production of poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC), poly(vinyl acetate) (PVA), and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). Mixed with TiCl4, they catalyze the polymerization of ethylene and propylene. 

To reduce interference from Compton scattering, an anticoincidence shield, 76 cm. X 76 cm., was constructed as shown in Figures 2 and 3. The shield consists of two independent type NE-102 plastic phosphor annuli. A 10-cm. bore through the top annulus accommodates the Ge(Li) detector chamber and the cryogenic assembly. The bottom annulus (i.d. diameter 25 cm.) houses a 20-cm. diameter by 15-cm. thick Nal(Tl) scintillator. Normally, the plastic phosphor is used in conjunction with the Nal(Tl) to form a well -shaped anticoincidence shield. Altema-... 

Scintillation counters are used to detect energy-rich particles and y rays. They consist of a combination of a phosphor, usually a single crystal, with a photomultiplier or a photodiode as detector. Alkali-metal iodides (see Table 56), Bi4Ge3012, CaW04, ZnW04, CdW04, and ZnS Ag+, Ni+ are typical phosphors for this application [5.438]. 

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