Rare earth ceramic scintillator
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsFrank A. DiBianca, Jean-Pierre J. Georges, Dominic A. Cusano, Charles D. Greskovich
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Abstract
An improved scintillator for a solid state radiation detector useful in CT (computed tomography), DR (digital radiography), and related technologies. The scintillator, rather than being grown as a single crystal, is formed by means of hot pressing or sintering, as a polycrystalline ceramic. Rare earth oxides doped with rare earth activators are selected to yield a cubic crystal structure of high density and transmittance, which satisfies radiation detector requirements better than crystals utilized heretofore.
Claims8
In a radiation detector for use with a source of penetrating radiation, a detector array having a plurality of channels for receiving the radiation, the channels each including a scintillator and a photo-responsive means coupled thereto for producing a set of signals related to the radiation detected in the respective channels, the improvement wherein each scintillator comprises a polycrystalline ceramic scintillator crystal for detecting the radiation in the channels, the crystals being formed of a rare earth oxide doped with a rare earth activator to form a cubic crystal structure which scintillates at a predetermined wavelength, the crystal having a porosity no greater than about 0.1% and being substantially optically transparent to efficiently couple the scintillated radiation to the photo-responsive means.
In a radiation detector for use with a source of penetrating radiation, an X-ray detector having a plurality of collimated cells for detecting X-radiation projected into the cells and for producing sets of electrical signals to be integrated as a measure of incident radiation, the improvement comprising a plurality of polycrystalline ceramic scintillators in the cells for detecting the radiation impinging thereon, the crystals being formed of a rare earth oxide doped with a rare earth activator to form a cubic crystal structure which scintillates at a predetermined wavelength, the crystal having a porosity no greater than about 0.1% and being substantially optically transparent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.