Non-Cubic Ceramic Scintillators for Nuclear Non-Proliferation

Proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear weapons is a serious threat in the world today. Prevention of the spread of nuclear weapons has reached a state of heightened urgency in recent years. Scintillator based gamma-ray spectrometers are an important tool in checking the proliferation of the nuclear weapons. The performance of the current radioisotope identifiers is limited by the characteristics as well as cost of scintillators available at present. The goal of the proposed project is to investigate new, non-cubic scintillation materials that can be produced with excellent optical and scintillation properties using low-cost ceramic fabrication approaches. Increased flexibility, significantly lower cost as well as high performance can be expected from the proposed gamma-ray detection technology. The Phase I project will be aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of producing high performance non-cubic scintillators using low-cost ceramic methods. The fabrication processes will be explored and optimized and the scintillators produced will be evaluated for gamma-ray studies. Commercial and Scientific Potential: Over and above use in nuclear non-proliferation, the new detectors will be commercially applicable to medical imaging, NDE, and materials analysis. They will also be useful in nuclear, high energy and space physics experiments