Hou Junyu, Ma Ge, Feng Zhanzu, Zhang Weiwei, Meng Zong, Li Yuhe
Department of Precision Instruments, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Department of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Sensors (Basel). 2025 Sep 2;25(17):5431. doi: 10.3390/s25175431.
With the advent of novel scintillators featuring higher atomic numbers and enhanced radiation hardness, these materials exhibit potential applications under high-dose-rate irradiation. In this work, we systematically compared the photon output characteristics of ten mainstream or emerging inorganic scintillators under high-dose-rate irradiation with low-energy (0.1-1.7 MeV) electrons or protons. Initially, under electron irradiation among ~0.1 to ~50 rad/s, responses exhibited saturation trends to varying degrees, with their variations conforming to the saturation model proposed. However, under proton irradiation among ~5 rad/s to ~150 rad/s, responses exhibited sigmoidal trends due to competition between radiation-induced defects and luminescence centers. Through dynamic derivation of carriers and them, a triple-balance model that demonstrated close agreement with such variations was established. Subsequently, energy-dependent responses under proton irradiation exhibited marked nonlinearity, which were well fitted by Birks' law, confirming the validity of our measurements. In contrast, electron-induced responses remained nearly linear with increasing energy. Then, after high-dose-rate and prolonged irradiation, BGO revealed highest response degradation, while YAG(Ce) demonstrated most radiation-damage resistance. Moreover, Ce-doped scintillators displayed higher afterglow levels after prolonged irradiation, particularly for YAG(Ce). In summary, these experimental analyses can provide critical guidance for material selection and effective calibration of scintillator detectors operating under high-dose-rate radiation from charged particles.
随着具有更高原子序数和增强辐射硬度的新型闪烁体的出现，这些材料在高剂量率辐照下展现出潜在的应用前景。在这项工作中，我们系统地比较了十种主流或新兴无机闪烁体在高剂量率辐照下，用低能（0.1 - 1.7 MeV）电子或质子辐照时的光子输出特性。最初，在约0.1至约50 rad/s的电子辐照下，响应呈现出不同程度的饱和趋势，其变化符合所提出的饱和模型。然而，在约5 rad/s至约150 rad/s的质子辐照下，由于辐射诱导缺陷与发光中心之间的竞争，响应呈现出S形趋势。通过对载流子及其动态推导，建立了一个与这种变化表现出紧密一致性的三平衡模型。随后，质子辐照下的能量依赖响应呈现出明显的非线性，这可以用伯克斯定律很好地拟合，证实了我们测量的有效性。相比之下，电子诱导的响应随能量增加几乎保持线性。然后，在高剂量率和长时间辐照后，BGO显示出最高的响应退化，而YAG(Ce)表现出最强的抗辐射损伤能力。此外，掺杂铈的闪烁体在长时间辐照后显示出更高的余辉水平，特别是对于YAG(Ce)。总之，这些实验分析可为在带电粒子高剂量率辐射下运行的闪烁体探测器的材料选择和有效校准提供关键指导。
