New single crystal scintillators: CsCaCl3:Eu and CsCaI3:Eu

The current work describes two new Eu2+-activated scintillator materials, CsCaI3:Eu and CsCaCl3:Eu. Single crystals of CsCaI3:Eu and CsCaCl3:Eu were grown from the melt via the vertical Bridgman method. Scintillation properties, including decay time, light output, X-ray excited luminescence and light output, as a function of excitation energy were measured, as were the photoluminescence emission and excitation spectra. In addition, moisture sensitivity was evaluated by measuring the moisture uptake rate and compared with those of NaI:Tl and Cs2LiYCl6:Ce reference scintillators.

► We explored new Eu2+-doped CsCaCl3 and CsCaI3 scintillators.
► The single crystals were grown by the Bridgman method in sealed quartz ampoules.
► These new materials exhibit good scintillation properties for X-ray and gamma-ray detections.