Intrinsic scintillators: TlMgCl3 and TlCaI3

Abstract Two intrinsic scintillators TlMgCl 3 and TlCaI 3 with excellent energy resolution and fast scintillation decay are presented. Crack-free transparent crystals were successfully grown by the Bridgman method. The scintillation light yields of TlMgCl 3 and TlCaI 3 are approximately 30,600 ph/MeV and 42,200 ph/MeV, respectively. Their energy resolutions at 662 keV are 3.7% for TlMgCl 3 and 6.2% for TlCaI 3 . The scintillation decay times of TlMgCl 3 are 46 ns, 166 ns, and 449 ns. The scintillation decay times of TlCaI 3 are 62 ns, 200 ns, and 1.44 μs. Under X-ray irradiation, the emission of TlMgCl 3 is between 300 nm and 540 nm with the peak at 409 nm. TlCaI 3 has a broad emission band between 300 nm and 750 nm. Due to their excellent scintillation properties, these two scintillators can be developed for gamma-ray detection. Additionally, TlMgCl 3 is non-hygroscopic.