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Development of Gd?Si?O?-based High-performance Scintillators and Their Application
Development of high luminescence scintillators for radiation detectors
Scintillators are materials that emit light by radiation and are used in medical diagnostic equipment, and for oil exploration and other purposes. Gd2Si2O7 (GPS) scintillators have excellent features such as high luminescence, high energy resolution and non-tidal dissolution, and can be made into single crystals, ceramic plates and powders.
Research
The Gd2Si2O7: Ce (GPS) single crystal scintillator has excellent features such as high luminescence (1.4 times that of NaI:Tl), high energy resolution, non-tidal and no self-radioactivity, and can be used in high temperature environments of 250°C or higher. The technology has been transferred to Oxide Corporation, and is now ready for use in SPECT and other applications. We have also established a stable manufacturing technology for 5 cm square GPS sintered plates. By combining a position sensitive photomultiplier tube, it is now possible to detect nuclear fuel materials emitting alpha rays, which were released in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, with high sensitivity. The prototype device succeeded in detecting nuclear fuel-induced α-ray-emitting radionuclides in an environment with nuclear fuel-induced α-ray-emitting radionuclides: natural radioactivity (radon progeny) = 1:200, which had been inconceivable with conventional devices.
Junichi H. Kaneko Associate Professor
