Eu2+-activated BaCl2, BaBr2 and BaI2 scintillators revisited

We present new results obtained from single crystals of Ba binary halides of BaCl2, BaBr2 and BaI2 activated with Eu2+. While these compounds were known as scintillator materials, due to improvements in the crystal growth process and availability of higher purity compounds, we obtained crystals with better performances than what have been reported before. The luminosities of BaCl2:5%Eu2+, BaBr2:5%Eu2+ and BaI2:5%Eu2+ are about 90%, 70% and 60%, respectively, of their theoretical limit.