The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) radioactivity and cleanliness control programs
(2020)
Bright and fast scintillations of an inorganic halide perovskite CsPbBr3 crystal at cryogenic temperatures
Scientific Reports Nature Research 10 (2020) 8601
Abstract:
Highly efficient scintillation crystals with short decay times are indispensable for improving the performance of numerous detection and imaging instruments that use- X-rays, gamma-quanta, ionising particles or neutrons. Halide perovskites emerged recently as very promising materials for detection of ionising radiation that motivated further exploration of the materials. In this work, we report on excellent scintillation properties of CsPbBr3 crystals when cooled to cryogenic temperatures. The temperature dependence of luminescence spectra, decay kinetics and light yield under excitation with X-rays and α-particles was investigated. It is shown that the observed changes of spectral and kinetic characteristics of the crystal with temperature can be consistently explained by radiative decay of free excitons, bound and trapped excitons as well as electron-hole pairs originating from their disintegration. It has been found that the crystal exhibits a fast decay time constant of 1 ns at 7 K. The scintillation light yield of CsPbBr3 at 7 K is assessed to be 50,000 ± 10,000 ph/MeV at excitation with 12 keV X-rays and 109,000 ± 22,000 ph/MeV at excitation with α-particles of 241Am. This finding places CsPbBr3 in an excellent position for the development of a new generation of cryogenic, efficient scintillation detectors with nanosecond response time, marking a step-change in opportunities for scintillator-based applications.Cryogenic phonon-scintillation detectors with PMT readout for rare event search experiments
(2020)
Lithium-Containing Crystals for Light Dark Matter Search Experiments
Journal of Low Temperature Physics Springer Nature 199:1-2 (2020) 510-518
Searches for Light Dark Matter with the CRESST-III Experiment
Journal of Low Temperature Physics Springer Nature 199:1-2 (2020) 547-555