Intrinsic scintillators: TlMgCl3 and TlCaI3

Two intrinsic scintillators TlMgCl3 and TlCaI3 with excellent energy resolution and fast scintillation decay are presented. Crack-free transparent crystals were successfully grown by the Bridgman method. The scintillation light yields of TlMgCl3 and TlCaI3 are approximately 30,600 ph/MeV and 42,200 ph/MeV, respectively. Their energy resolutions at 662 keV are 3.7% for TlMgCl3 and 6.2% for TlCaI3. The scintillation decay times of TlMgCl3 are 46 ns, 166 ns, and 449 ns. The scintillation decay times of TlCaI3 are 62 ns, 200 ns, and 1.44 μs. Under X-ray irradiation, the emission of TlMgCl3 is between 300 nm and 540 nm with the peak at 409 nm. TlCaI3 has a broad emission band between 300 nm and 750 nm. Due to their excellent scintillation properties, these two scintillators can be developed for gamma-ray detection. Additionally, TlMgCl3 is non-hygroscopic.