Nanocomposite, Ceramic, and Thin Film Scintillators

The literature so far has reviewed only single-crystal and, up to some extent, optical ceramic scintillators. This book introduces and describes in detail the research and development in thin film scintillators, glass ceramics, as well as nanocomposite and optical ceramics prepared by spark plasma sintering. It also features example of an in-depth study of a ZnO-based powder phosphor material. Both technology description and various characterization aspects are provided together with application hints.

No other book has been published so far that includes and reviews the scintillator materials covered in this book with their specific technologies. Moreover, technological description is merged with detailed characterization, and the application potential is discussed as well. This book is intended for a wide audience, including postgraduate and PhD students and scientists working in the field of scintillators and phosphors. The extended introductory text, which has a textbook character, will be of immense benefit to students and non-specialists, too.

Introduction@fundamentals. Nanoparticle Scintillators, Nanocomposites. Glass Ceramic Scintillators. Ceramic Scintillators by Spark Plasma Sintering Technology. Thin-Film Scintillators by Liquid Phase Epitaxy. Pb2+ and Bi3+ Centers in Complex Oxide Thin Films Prepared by Liquid Phase Epitaxy. ZnO-based Powder Phosphors.

Martin Nikl is senior scientist and head of department in the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (AS CR), and associated professor at Czech Technical University in Prague. He received a CSc degree from the Institute of Physics, AS CR. He has authored and coauthored more than 700 original papers in international periodicals. He has presented more than 30 invited keynote and plenary lectures at international conferences. His current fields of interest are luminescence and scintillation materials, energy transfer and storage phenomena in the scintillation mechanism, physics of defects, luminescence of excitons, nanoaggregates, and quantum dots.