Advanced methods in research on scintillators

LaBr₃:Ce, an extremely efficient and additionally extremely fast scintillation crystal was surely the most important newcomer that appeared on the market of scintillators at the beginning of the 21^st century. Dominating position of cerium as an excellent activator seemed to be undisputed. However, a thrust towards an even better emission has drawn attention of researchers towards other lanthanides, mainly praseodymium. Ever growing wealth of the acquired knowledge on mechanisms of scintillation and progress in development of experimental techniques both help to search for new materials and/or to optimize those already in use. Overview of the most important research methods will be presented. Particular emphasis will be given to low-temperature measurements and double-beam excitation. Some attempts will be done to answers to the two key questions: (i) what is going on the scintillation market almost 15 years after the discovery of LaBr­:Ce; and (ii) along what directions the researchers are looking for even better scintillators.

All interested persons are invited
Jacek Rzadkiewicz, Agnieszka Syntfeld-Każuch, Sławomir Wronka