Commercialization of Perovskite Gamma-Ray Sensors for the Warfighter

Developments in the performance of perovskite radiation detectors ­have indicated that CsPbBr­3 could replace CdZnTe for certain applications. ­ Due to the simplicity of growing detectors from this material, the market price for thick samples of the material may be less than CdZnTe. ­­­In Phase I, good performance of a CsPbBr­3 sample was achieved. An energy resolution of 2.5% FWHM at 662 keV for a 10-mm-thick CsPbBr­3 detector was measured. The samples from Phase I also demonstrated good device lifetime, operating for several weeks. In the second phase of this project, more CsPbBr­3 samples will be evaluated, and general trends in energy resolution performance, device lifetime, and charge transport properties will be determined. The CsPbBr­3 samples will be fully pixelated so that correction algorithms can be applied to material to achieve the best energy resolution possible. ­ CsPbBr­3 samples will be mounted to front-end printed circuit boards with a matched thermal expansion coefficient to develop modules which could be utilized as “drop-in” replacements for CdZnTe detectors. Large detector volumes will be grown, up to 22×22×10 mm3. The material will also be compared with CdZnTe across a wide range of performance metrics, including gamma-ray detection efficiency, position resolution, and device lifetime.  ­