Tl2LaCl5:Ce, high performance scintillator for gamma-ray detectors

This paper reports on a new Ce-doped Tl-based scintillator, Tl2LaCl5 (TLC), for gamma-ray detection. 10 mm diameter crystals have been successfully grown using the vertical Bridgman method. The emission peak of TLC is detected at 383 nm under X-ray excitation. The light yield of TLC is 76,000 ph/MeV. The samples show excellent energy resolution of 3.4% (FWHM) at 662 keV. The non-proportionality is less than 1%, from 32 keV to 1275 keV. The major scintillation decay time is 36 ns.